See us at Embercombe Autumn festival - full story on page 25 visit our website: www.reconnectonline.co.uk
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011
the green living magazine for Exeter, Plymouth and South Devon
FREE
Autumn treats
Another tasty Embercombe event
please take one and pass it on
Wellbeing section
Are you getting the massage?
Eco homes
Traditional and hi-tech building
Back to your roots
Making the most of seasonal veg
Having a laugh
Events diary full of good times
local people local events local food local health local environment HoLiSTiC MEdiCiNE EXPERiENCEd PRACTiTioNERS WidE RANgE of TREATMENTS PRofESSioNAL TRAiNiNg
EXETER NATURAL HEALTH CENTRE Holistic healthcare in the heart of the city
Health is the fullest expression of you as an individual with the least friction with your environment. it implies adaptation, fluidity, freedom and ease and is truly a blessing. Here at the centre, we work with you to find the most suitable ways for you to restore and sustain your health. We work from a holistic perspective and with an integrated approach. Situated just off Queen Street right in the heart of the city we offer a wide range of complementary therapies all provided by respected and experienced practitioners. Our consulting rooms are light and airy and many of our visitors have been delighted by the tranquil ambience of the centre.
BRITISH SCHOOL OF HOMOEOPATHY
Monthly concessionary student clinic. Call 01392 422555 for details THE PRACTITIONERS: Harriet HollingwortH acupuncture & Chinese Healthcare, Reflexology, Sports Massage, Reiki Master Mo MoRRiSh homoeopathic Medicine
KatHerine UKleJa Craniosacral Therapy ANNA PARiS Traditional Acupuncture, Toyohari, 5 Element & Manaka styles noraH CatHerine MCCuLLAgh Pure Face Works
JUlie BlaDon Yoga, Lomi Lomi Massage, Pregnancy massage
geoff green Energy healing & Counselling
SARAh JANE hoLT
Ayurvedic Massage, Consultations, Reflexology
PatriCia anD Karin
Pregnancy Yoga and Active Birth
LiSA TATE Massage, pregnancy Massage, Aromatherapy & Non Surgical Face lift
SuSAN QuAYLE Maternity Reflexologist, fertility, ante natal, post natal & baby Aromatherapy Massage ThE DEvoN SChooL oF reflexology Level 3 Diplomas Spring/Autumn Courses 2012 JUlia Collett Psychotherapy & Counselling LouiSA ShoRNEY Clinical hypnotherapy
LESLEY hARPER
Nutritional Therapist
School of Bodywork Professional Massage Training APNT accredited
Diplomas: Swedish, Remedial, Sports Injury, Indian Head, Seated Acupressure, MFR, CPD www.schoolofbodywork.com
01392 422555 Centre Manager: Ali Morrish 2
Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk
info@schoolofbodywork.com
07711 656 011
Exeter Natural Health Centre, Queens Walk, 83/84 Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RP e: info@enhc.org w: www.enhc.org www.reconnectonline.co.uk
local people local events local food local health local environment COMMERCIAL EDITOR Pete Hardy - 01392 346342 2 Withall’s Gardens, Lympstone, EX8 5JH adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk
to the October/November issue.
EDITOR Martin Foster - 01803 868455 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk 45 Punchards Down, Follaton, Totnes TQ9 5FD
I ADMIT I got it wrong.
Local energy
It was back in June and my dad had just died. He was in his eighties, he’d been very unwell and yet of course I was devastated. Like if you stand on the railway track – you know there’s a train coming but when it hits you…
PUBLISHER Robin Currie - 01392 411630 robin@reconnectonline.co.uk
pages 6 - 7
But still, amid all the emotional and energetic turmoil, my Emergency Action System kicked in. Like the generator that automatically fires up in hospitals when the electricity supply goes down, it was telling me there was no time for thrashing around in the tangled emotional undergrowth… there was a funeral to arrange.
PUBLISHED BY Reconnect Publishing Ltd, 15 Sylvan Rd, Exeter EX4 6EW PRINTED BY Kingfisher Print, Wills Road, Totnes TQ9 5XN. www.kingfisherprint.co.uk ADVERTISING The deadline for our Dec/Jan issue is November 4. Call Pete or Martin and ask them about our new Easy Pay scheme that spreads the cost over 12 months - an 1/8-page ad costs just £41.85 a month! If you’re new to advertising (or you don’t like the ads you’ve had elsewhere), we can help you write an ad and design it for you. And, of course, we’ll write the editorial and run it with a photograph to really get the word out there. Call us now to talk it through... WEBSITE Visit www.reconnectonline.co.uk and you’ll find: • an online PDF version of this issue • advertisements sizes and prices • details of our magazine stockists • profiles of the Reconnect team To contribute, please email Martin or Pete ECO ETHOS Reconnect is written, designed, printed and distributed locally, using materials from sustainable sources. It is printed using vegetablebased inks and biodegradable fount solution. The paper is 75 per cent post-consumer waste and 25 per cent virgin fibre (from a sustainable source), chlorine-free and FSC-accredited (www. fsc-uk.org). All by-products of the production and printing processes are recycled. Please recycle this magazine by passing it on to a friend...
COPYRIGHT © Reconnect Publishing Ltd 2009. All rights reserved. No part of Reconnect can be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. But do ask – if you’re genuinely spreading the word, we’ll try to help. The publishers, editor and authors accept no responsibility in respect of any products, goods or services advertised or referred to in this issue, or any errors, omissions, misstatements or mistakes in any advertisements or references
Green funerals pages 14-15
I was trying to Do The Right Thing, of course. I’d registered dad’s death and the sweetly efficient registrar told me I next needed to find a funeral director. And that’s where I went wrong...
Eco homes pages 18 - 21
Now I won’t tell you who I chose because although I wasn’t very impressed by them, I don’t intend this to be some sort of consumerist expose. Suffice to say I decided to go ‘mainstream’ because it’s probably what my dad would have done and he used to work for a different arm of the same company.
Wellbeing
pages 27 - 35
My mistake was to assume ‘mainstream’ meant simple and down to earth and affordable – qualities my dad considered very important. What they actually offered I found to be pretentious and artificial and exorbitant. But I’m not beating myself up over choosing them. It’s very easy to make mistakes at such an emotional time – which is why, I think, so few people actually get the sort of funeral they want and also why it is crucial that you give some thought, well in advance, as to what you actually want a funeral to DO. I was fortunate because instead of using the celebrant suggested by the funeral director we called on the services of Jonathan Taylor, whose care and understanding actually saved the day and meant the ceremony itself was a very moving, wholly appropriate and (in its way) enjoyable experience.
Pumpkin and Pizza Day on October 16, and the Westcountry Storytelling Festival over next year’s August bank holiday weekend. There’s more on both events on page 25, so check it out, put them in your diary and book tickets for the Westcountry Storytelling Festival TODAY and get your Early Bird discount. And if you have a business connected to sustainability and would like a stall there, call Embercombe on 01647 252983 and tell them we sent you!
Immediately afterwards, family and friends of all ages, and from all backgrounds, told me it was genuinely the best ceremony they had experienced and had made them rethink the subject - and it was partly their reaction that convinced me to ask Jonathan if he’d like to write an article on the subject for Reconnect.
LOOK out in this issue too for: a bumper Eco Homes section, with fascinating stories on sustainable housing; a chance to win a copy of the very new and hugely informative Transition Companion; and shock news that the Reconnect crew have finally staggered nervously into the 21st century with a Facebook page.
So pages 14 and 15 of this issue are dedicated to funerals and the lovely local people who work to help people decide what they want from a funeral and then ensure they actually get it. I WILL call them next time.
And finally, if you’d like to be part of our bumper Christmas/New Year issue (with loads of advice on how to enjoy a sustainable festive season, including a local pressie guide), email me at editor@ reconnectonline.co.uk.
And this issue of Reconnect is dedicated to my dad, my most loyal (if somewhat impartial) reader… FOLLOWING the huge success of the Midsummer Fair, we are delighted to be working again with the lovely Embercombe folk on two more events – Apple,
YURT HOLIDAYS IN CORNWALL
Sustainable, dog-friendly site in wonderful countryside, near beautiful beaches. insight meditation in the buddhist tradition
Available for a weekend break, a week or longer. Open all-year round. NEW for this year - Shepherd’s hut
Mill Valley Tipis & Yurts
See website for details, pictures, etc www.millvalley.co.uk Or call 01208 841163 / 07725 055370
www.gaiahouse.co.uk
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Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment Finding mags WE know most regular readers pick up each new issue of Reconnect from a favourite local outlet. But we also know that Reconnect is becoming more popular all the time, so what do you do if you get there and they’ve all gone? Simple. Visit our website, www.reconnectonline.co.uk, where you’ll find a complete list of all the places you can pick up the magazine. And while we’re on the subject, if you have a business and would like to stock Reconnect, or there’s a business near you and you would like us to approach them, do please get in touch.
Frontroom gigs FANCY holding a gig in your front room? That’s the offer from Chris Wood and Cole Stacey whose Crafted Acoustic is currently making its way across the Westcountry. See them at the Plymouth B-Bar on Oct 7, The Globe in Topsham on Oct 26, and a whole load of other places (full rundown at www. chriswoodsgroove.co.uk) including, possibly, at your house. All they want is an audience of around 10 people, a whip-round to pay for petrol and “a bit of a munch”. Find out more at chris_ woods_84@hotmail.com.
Food swap SEEDY Sisters, the group who organise hugely popular seed swaps, are now planning the Fabulous Food Swap. “Sow it, grow it, gather it, make it or home-bake it, but take it to the Fabulous Food Swap!” say the organisers. “You’ll also discover the true value of food, because no money changes hands and we just value the effort that goes into growing or making it.” Fabulous Food Swap is at Dartington Village Hall on Sunday, October 9, 2-4pm and entry is free. To find out more, email ekadreamer@dadeby.co.uk.
Eco home fair EXPECT stalls from energy product suppliers and installers, builders, architects and local energy and Transition groups at the Eco Homes Fair, in Totnes Civic Hall on October 8, 9.30am-3pm. Visit www. transitiontowntotnes.org.
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The Capton bus shelter, above and top right; The Kids’ Den at Haldon Forest, middle right; and, right bottom, Beached Wharf at the time of its opening in Totnes
Building communities TALKING to oak frame building specialists Carpenter Oak, we discovered they’ve helped out with a number of community projects across Reconnectland so we thought we’d focus on three of them here. The Kids’ Den in Haldon Forest Park near Exeter was originally put up by carpenters and their families in 2007 before being moved and roofed by Carpenter Oak a year later. Children from the tiny hamlet of Capton have to walk a mile to the main road – and then wait in all weathers for the school bus. So Capton families got together to put
up an oak framed shelter, project managed by Carpenter Oak director Adam Milton. And if you can’t stand modern art, try sitting on it. Beached Wharf is a sculpture, a seat and a climbing frame for adults and children taking a break from shopping in Totnes. Designed by retired Totnes architect Tony Harrison, it was hand-crafted and assembled by Carpenter Oak l We’d love to hear about YOUR local community project. Email editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
And how watching movies can put everyone in the picture WE want to hear about Reconnect readers’ community projects, so to get the ball rolling we thought we’d look at a project that involves editor Martin Foster. Follaton Community Cinema (FCC) was created last year by the residents of Follaton, a housing estate on the edge of Totnes. “We were trying to think of something that would bring together people from right across the community,” explained Martin, who lives on Follaton and is chairman of the FCC. “Everyone has their favourite movie.” After holding a public meeting to get a committee together, and with advice from the British Federation of Film Societies (www.bffs.org.uk), they held their first test screening at the Follaton Community Centre and invited residents to come along and see the
classic comedy Some Like It Hot. “It’s gathered momentum from there,” says Martin. “Fundraising has been a priority because community cinemas are not cheap to run – just hiring the films costs £110 a time, for example, and then there’s hall hire, insurance and loads of other bills. “South Hams District Council helped out with two small grants and the big breakthrough was a Big Lottery grant – for £9,300!
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“The one condition was that it all had to go on equipment, so we’ve got an amazing stateof-the-art set-up, but we’re still counting the pennies.” Follaton Community Cinema membership costs £20 for eight films and is open to all local residents. Non-members are also welcome and pay £5 on the door. Their next film is Station Agent (“An over-looked gem,” says Martin) on October 28 and after that… “Members vote for which films we show,” explains Martin, “so we’ll be voting for the next films at our next screening.” To find out more, email Martin at editor@reconnectonline.co.uk, or visit the FCC website, www. follatoncommunitycinema.co.uk.
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local people local events local food local health local environment Traditional skills but no lumpy porridge SPINNING and knitting enthusiast Sue Reece says she raised a few eyebrows when she set up a knitters’ club in Crediton a few years back. We can only imagine those same eyebrows were lost somewhere among their owners’ blue perms when she said it would be held in the Redvers Buller pub. Four years on, Knitwits is still going strong and a second weekly group now meets in a quieter space at the town library. And at the end of last year, she joined forces with Sarah Johnson to run a monthly spinning circle at the Crediton Arts Centre. Said Sue: “Spinning and knitting are both great ways to save money, become more self-sufficient, revive traditional skills and create beautiful and original garments and furnishings from raw materials. “The current revival has inspired some amazing creativity. Handspun wool is no longer the colour and texture of lumpy porridge - unless you want it to be!”
The Contemporar y College of Homeopathy B r i s t o l
Putting Health Back In Your Hands Spinning at Crediton Arts Centre Fibres used range from local sheep fleeces to more exotic materials like alpaca, yak, silk, cotton and even camel – all easily available on the internet. Equipment ranges from spinning wheels, for which you can pay £300-£1000 says Sue, to a simple spindle made from a CD and a stick. All the groups welcome newcomers, but Sue also offers one-to-one instruction. Call Sue on 01363 773442 or Sarah on 01363 777850.
Maggy’s talk INSPIRING talks by some of the big names in personal development, spirituality and new philosophy continue to be hosted in Exeter by One Vision. Maggy Whitehouse, author of The Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, The Secret History of Opus Dei and From Credit Crunch to Pure Prosperity, will present The Quest of your Soul, 7pm, at St David’s Church in Exeter on October 18. And on the following day, Maggy will run a workshop at SealeHayne, near Newton Abbot. Also coming soon at St David’s in Exeter are Todd Acamesis on The Higher-Self Briefings at 7pm on November 15, again followed by a Seale-Hayne workshop the following day. Visit www. onevisionfoundation. com or call 01647 231630.
We offer an enviable training with internationally renowned teachers and supervision in our busy teaching clinics
• Weekend introductory courses • One year foundation course (part time) year professional training for • Four practitioner level (part time) CALL NOW to book a place on our next
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Fluffypunk - “stand-up poet and nihilist”
Hoot if you love Fluffypunk HOOT! promises “anarchic fun cabaret” with competitions and prizes, and with proceeds going to Oxfam. Hosted by the lovely Jackie Juno, it also features “stand-up poet and sustainable nihilist” Jonny Fluffypunk, “emergency jazz singer” Becky Brine and “quirkedelic performance poet” Robert Garnham. Find it all at The Dolphin Inn, Bovey Tracey, at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 12. Call 01626 835802, or email jackiejuno@yahoo.co.uk
A 5 day voyage of personal exploration for people seeking to make a powerful contribution to the world which is aligned to their gifts, passion and experience. The Journey reconnects you to the natural environment as a source of power and strength.
21-26 November 2011 01647 252983
Working towards a sustainable Plymouth PLYMOUTH City Council says the city’s Local Carbon Framework, currently being developed, “has the potential to influence the city's future economy in a very significant way.” Said a spokesman: “For the first time traditional economic development is being linked with the impact of
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carbon management and climate change to suggest what a low carbon economy would look like for the City.” To check out the story so far, visit the council website, www.plymouth. go.uk, and search for ‘sustainable Plymouth’.
www.embercombe.co.uk/journey
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment
Home made
pickles & cHutneys
Produced in St. Marychurch, Torquay using top quality ingredients with no artificial additives of any kind. 73 Fore Street, St Marychurch, Torquay Tel: 07751 156325 inapickle1@hotmail.co.uk
RECONNECT urges you to support local food producers and retailers - it reduces our carbon footprint, supports community by keeping money local and ensures you know exactly where your food is produced and by whom...
Bistro with tasty art on side
AS well as offering locally sourced food and a talented young chef, a new bistro restaurant in the St Leonard’s area of Exeter is doubling as a gallery to promote local artists. Petit Mange opened its doors to the public in August run by Charlotte Stock up now on Vitamin C, Lloyd-Wrigley as her first Greenlife is now a PHI space! Echinacea, Elderberry and business venture. Vitamin D to help keep you Charlotte was born and Find us in the and your family free from grew up within the industry Market Square in and has more recently coughs, colds and flu this been gaining experience Totnes, TQ9 5SG winter. with local clubs and restaurants. 01803 866738 Petit Mange, at 29 Magdalen Road, aims to be “a welcoming, relaxing For more information check out www.greenlife.co.uk and contemporary environment in which to enjoy good food based on British cuisine with Mediterranean influences”. Chef Adam Page says his philosophy is to simply prepare the best quality local produce and allow a balance of flavours and textures to speak for themselves. The restaurant, open MondaySaturday (10am for coffee/tea and
patisserie, 12pm-3pm for lunch and from 6-10pm for dinner) is also displaying works of art. Current exhibits feature abstract work from George Porter and photographs by Joe Willcocks. All exhibits are for sale. Call 01392 435883 or 07896 423440. l Look out for more Green Dining locations in Reconnect – local seasonal produce, wholefood, organic, vegan, vegetarian… email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk to get involved.
New Sacks man builds on local links THE new owner of Sacks and Sacks Too, two independent wholefood stores in Totnes, is the first to admit his regular customers know his shops (from their side of the counter, at least) as well as he does. “I have plenty of plans and improvements I want to make,” says David Saunderson, “but I want my loyal existing customers and staff to play a part in that process. “We already concentrate on local and organic produce and we plan to expand that – to include ‘guest’ local honeys, produced within a few miles, for example. “And we have also recently stocked a range of spa products using locally harvested seaweeds. “I’ve come in with lots of new ideas, but if there’s something someone would like to see on our shelves, we will get it in – we aim to provide a bespoke service.” David is currently half way through a three-year course at the International Macrobiotics School near Totnes, which is why he first
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Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk
came to the town. He now wants to develop local links, has attended TTT Food Hub meetings and wants to hear from more local suppliers. He said: “We’re always receptive to new local and, ideally, organic, producers. I aim to create better links between producers and customers – with information and photographs in the stores and even arrange visits.” Longer term plans include a takeaway food service at Sacks Too, which is on The Plains at the lower end of town. Call 01803 863263.
local people local events local food local health local environment
Real Food at a Fair Price...
SHARPHAM vines on the slopes overlooking the River Dart
...from Ashburton’s Local Produce Market, at Tuckers Country Store, Ashburton There’s a host of award winning locally produced meat, organic vegetables, cakes, bread, cheese, flowers, preserves, ice cream, fresh fish, Fairtrade goods, handmade baskets, jewellery, textiles, greetings cards and much more at Tuckers Local Produce Market. Teas and coffees with free biscuits are available every day; freshly cooked BARBEQUE LUNCHES on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
NOW OPEN 5 DAYS A WEEK from 9.30am
TUESDAY TO SATURDAY
The importance of place GEOGRAPHY plays a big part in the success of South Devon wine and cheese producer Sharpham. It’s location, on the side of a hill overlooking the meandering Dart near Totnes, is the perfect site for the vineyard, with sheltered South-facing slopes sweeping down to the river. And the rich Devon pastures are ideal for Sharpham’s organically farmed Jersey cattle, which produce the rich creamy milk for their unpasteurised cheeses. But that picturesque location is good
for business in another way – it also creates the perfect environment for eating and drinking, so between Easter and October, Sharpham can also offer alfresco eating in their café, with stunning views over the river. Off-season, Sharpham are running Trek & Taste, a self-directed tour of the vineyard and river walk, followed by a cheese and wine tasting back at the winery. Find out more at www.sharpham. com.
Free parking, right outside the door!
SackS wholefoods
Five reasons for eating organic food WE all know it’s good to eat organic, right? But why, exactly? Heather Nicholson, who runs an organic B&B in Paignton, suggests five reasons for starters: l Knowing what’s in your food: hydrogenated fats and controversial additives are banned under organic standards. l The environment: organic farming releases less greenhouse gas than non-organic farming.
l Animal welfare: organic standards insist animals are given plenty of space and fresh air to thrive and grow. l Protecting wildlife: the UK Government’s own advisors found plant, insect and bird life is up to 50 per cent greater on organic farms. l GM-free: genetically modified crops and ingredients are banned under organic standards. Visit www.organicbedandbreakfast. info.
Store’s customers get to meet their makers CUSTOMERS of Exeter’s Real Food Store in Paris Street will have the chance to sample local produce and meet the people who produced it. Between 2-4pm on Saturdays in October, suppliers will be invited in store to offer samples. The store, which is owned and run by
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the Exeter community, has expanded its range of produce and goods and the in-store café and restaurant have proved very popular. Sarah Collier, one of the store’s directors, said they planned to open until 8pm on Thursdays from November 24 as an experiment.
• Organic fruit and vegetables • Large range of herbs and spices • Green Lane herbal tinctures
• Bulk and case discounts • Special orders catered for • Established in Totnes 35 years
SackS SackS Too
The Plains Shopping Centre Totnes TQ9 5DR shop@sackswholefoods.co.uk
•
FREE local herb tea mix when you bring in this advert
80 High Street Totnes TQ9 5SN 01803 863263
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
•
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local people local events local food local health local environment How Transition caught the world’s imagination
Peter Farrie
Support for finding new directions IF you are thinking about a change of career, have an idea for a new business or are unsure what you really want to do, a new monthly event in Exeter could help. Happy Monday Evenings is a networking and support event aimed at bringing together people interested in finding creative and interesting ways of making a living and helping them to turn their ideas into action. The evenings are facilitated by lifecoach Jeff Sleeman, who runs the Happy Mondays career change seminar course. At the October 10 meeting, Peter Farrie, who gave up fulltime work in a large corporation to become a self-employed songwriter, web designer and consultant, will share his knowledge and experiences. Find out more about Peter and his work at www. creativitywebsites.co.uk. Happy Monday Evenings is at the White Hart Hotel in South Street Exeter on the second Monday of each month starting at 7pm. The first, on October 10, will be free, subsequent evenings will cost £10. Booking is not necessary, but call 07977 272174 or visit www.happymondays. org.uk for info.
IN 2008, The Transition Handbook, written by co-founder of the Transition movement Rob Hopkins, was published by Dartington-based publisher Green Books. Since then, the book has been translated into several languages and was listed by The Bookseller magazine as one of the best selling environmental books of all time; and the Transition movement it helped to inspire is now active in 34 countries. In the recent BBC2 programme Town, which featured Totnes, the Transition movement was described by presenter Nicholas Crane as “the biggest urban brainwave of the century.” Now Rob has created the sequel, The Transition Companion: making your community more resilient in uncertain times, which will be launched at Totnes Civic Hall on Tuesday, October 4, at 8pm. “The Transition approach,” Rob says, “is about what it looks like, when faced by the increasing uncertainty of our economic and our energy situations, if we respond with engaged optimism, rolling up our sleeves and getting on with turning things round. The creativity it stimulates is amazing to see.” Projects featured in the book include communities printing their own money, setting up their own energy companies, creating food gardens in some very surprising places, establishing new breweries, bakeries and shops, organising huge community events, working with their councils, setting up new food markets, bringing groups of neighbours together to save money and energy and much more besides. The Transition Companion (ISBN 9781900322973) is published by Green Books and costs £19.95 from local independent bookseller.
How to get a copy FREE! GREEN Books has given us THREE copies of the indispensable Transition Companion to give away to readers. So to be in with a chance of grabbing a copy, simply email your name, address and phone number to editor@reconnectonline.co.uk. Just type ‘The Transition Companion’ into the subject box and the first three to pop into our inbox will get a copy of the book. Do it now!
Arts Council keeps Villages in Action ANYONE who lives in a Devon village will tell you how much Villages in Action (VIA) means to their community. Despite all the fears about cuts, VIA has now won Arts Council funding from 2012-2015. The Crediton-based rural touring project is taking performers to village halls and other community venues across the area, including Highweek, Harberton, Milton Combe, Newton St Cyres, Scoriton, Bradninch, Dunkeswell, Rattery, Coffinswell, Northleigh, Clayhidon, Meavy, Combeinteignhead, Brentor and Milton Abbot. All the details can be found on the VIA website at www.villagesinaction.co.uk. Look out for royal harpist Clare Jones (she played at this year's royal wedding, you know), who's giving 7.30pm performances at Milton Combe Village Hall on October 13 (call 01822 854865 for info), Newton St. Cyres Parish Hall on October 14 (01392 851949), Scoriton Village Hall on October 15 (01364 631288) and Bradninch Guildhall on October 16 (01392 881245) Ben Osborne has recorded a visual and audio diary of his travels along the Jurassic Coast, collaborating with musician Sammy Hurden, sculptor Lal Hitchcock and poet Matt Harvey and "taking counsel" from scientists, especially geologists.
Farnham Maltings, top, who perform the play For One Night Only; Doudou Cissoko (as seen on Jools Holland) will play the kora. For venues and dates, visit www. www. villagesinaction.co.uk He will now take a show celebrating the Jurassic Coast to Rattery Village Hall on October 13 (01364 643741), St Bartholomew’s Church, Coffinswell on October 14 ( 01803 875527), Northleigh Village Hall on October 15 (01404 871422) and Clayhidon Parish Hall on October 16 (01823 680347).
Vibrant creative centre aims to ‘change the way we see disability’ FOR more than 200 years the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust has specialised in therapy, medical services, education and care for children and young adults with physical and/or learning disabilities at its Ivybridge base. Now the Trust has created a fundraising social enterprise at the former agricultural college Seale-Hayne, near Newton Abbot.
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Hannahs at Seale-Hayne, as it’s known, features a café, conference facilities, an accessible farm, craft gallery, art studios and an outdoor pursuits centre as well as rehearsal and recording facilities. People with physical and learning disabilities are already part of the team that runs this integrated, supportive and vibrant space and they aim to “change the way we see disability”. Recent
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visitors/speakers have included Steve Judd, Dr Craig Martin, Sheila Steptoe, Maggy Whitehouse, Tom Evans and Todd Acamesis. You’ll see more of Hannahs at SealeHayne in Reconnect over the coming months, or find out more at http://www. hannahssealehayne.com. l Steve Judd, right, the ‘caustic astrologer’
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local people local events local food local health local environment Business as a force for social good EMBERCOMBE is well known as a centre of inspiration for individuals who pass through its flagship programme known as The Journey, but less well known is its work with big business. Founder Mac Macartney, right, has an international reputation as an extraordinary speaker and consultant, working with companies in the realm of organisational change, leadership development and sustainability. In other words, aligning the values and vision of a company and its staff, so that businesses can be a force for social good. As a result their staff all give 100 per cent because they are totally behind what the company is achieving. Mac is currently engaged as a trainer on the global leadership programme offered by the World Wildlife Fund in Switzerland, which attracts participants from major
companies such as Vodafone and Unilever. The good news is that you don’t have to go overseas to have some of this for your team. Embercombe offers a range of services direct to companies, starting with team days all the way through to a comprehensive culture change package. Mac says: “Our team days are enlivening, inspiring and stimulating. People leave more committed to sustainability, more confident in their own abilities as a leader and understanding their colleagues better. We help companies integrate their values with their commercial goals”. The experiences range from creating a feast from Embercombe’s lush garden, forest exploration, to designing a fashion show. Visit www.embercombe.co.uk.
Reconnect with us online ONE of the very exciting things happening around Reconnect right now is that we’re getting more active online, which will mean all manner of benefits for readers and advertisers. The first big change is that every current issue of Reconnect can now be read on our website. Just click on ‘Read online’ and there it is, looking just like a real magazine. And the pages turn when you click the edge of the page, accompanied by a sexy page turning sound. Go on, try it. Advertisers can also have a live link from their ad to their own website. And we’re also going on Facebook, so check us out there too. Plans include blogs and other exciting stuff but the purpose of it all is to get you, the readers, more involved, so get in touch – via Facebook, email (editor@reconnectonline.co.uk) or even quaint old snail mail to the address on page 3.
Jentle goods now online JENTLE Trading, the South Devon-based supplier of fairly traded bags and scarves, now has an online shop up and running. Visit www.jentletrading. co.uk to buy shoppers and patio planters made from recycled cement bags and colourful scarves made from hand-stitched vintage saris - and all produced in women’s co-operatives in India and Bangladesh. And look out for Jentle Trading stalls at the new Artisans Markets in Totnes (www. totnesartisansmarket. com) and at the Apple, Pumpkin and Pizza Day at Embercombe on Oct 16 - see page 25.
Zephaniah at alternative Christmas fest TOP performance poet Benjamin Zephaniah will be the special guest at this year’s South West Christmas Without Cruelty Festival on November 27. Benjamin will be reading poems, signing books and chatting with visitors at the event in the Exeter Corn Exchange. The pioneering, eco-friendly Festival offers visitors the chance to buy Christmas cards and innovative, cruelty-free gifts in the sure
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knowledge that they are supporting good causes and creative local companies. Products will range from Fairtrade clothes and jewellery to cosmetics and skin care products, handmade chocolates, games for children, wildlife photographs and Devon grown olive trees. The festival runs 10am-4.30pm. Call 01395 579353 (07796 581915) or email mark.54.gold@ googlemail.com.
Buy online at www.jentletrading.co.uk
Making a difference Fairly traded, environmentally friendly products, sold in Devon with love
Bags made from reycled cement bags Scarves made from vintage saris Making a difference to people’s lives
Jentle Trading
Visit www.jentletrading.co.uk or call Jenny now on 01803 868455
INSPIRING TALKS IN EXETER THE QUEST OF YOUR SOUL HOW TO ACCESS ITS DEEP INNER WISDOM A talk and workshop with MAGGY WHITEHOUSE, author of The Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, The Secret History of Opus Dei and From Credit Crunch to Pure Prosperity. Maggy is a spiritual mentor, prosperity counsellor and author. Her work helps transform ego challenges into healthy growth of self, soul and spirit. More info: www.maggywhitehouse.com Talk: Tuesday, October 18, at St David’s Church, Exeter Workshop: Wednesday, October 19, at Seale-Hayne, Newton Abbot
THE HIGHER-SELF BRIEFINGS ACCELERATING YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH A talk by TODD ACAMESIS Talk: Tuesday, November 15, at St David’s Church, Exeter
OUT-OF-BODY EXPLORATION & ASTRAL PROJECTION TRAINING A workshop with TODD ACAMESIS American born, UK-based out-of-body explorer, Todd Acamesis has been exploring consciousness through expanded states of awareness for more than a decade, including 5 years through the out-of-body state. More info: www.journeyoftruth.co.uk Workshop: Wednesday, November 16, at Seale-Hayne, Newton Abbott
For full information, directions, costs and booking visit www.onevisionfoundation.com or call 01647 231 630
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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NEWS and views (including one from the rooftops) from the rapidly developing world of home and community energy generation
Solar panels on the tea room roof at Colaton Fishacre
Chris is trusted installer THERE’S nothing staid and stuffy about the National Trust. While looking after some of the country’s oldest and most historic buildings, the Trust is also in the forefront when it comes to green energy and renewables. The Trust has now completed a string of 25 PV projects at National Trust properties throughout the country. At Kingswear, the beautiful Colaton Fishacre property is the latest to be fitted with PV panels to generate its own electricity. The house, once the holiday home of the D’Oyly Carte family, has an award-winning licensed tea room - the roof of which is now home to a series of panels, keeping the system as low profile as possible with respect to the nearby listed building. The work was carried out by South West renewable
energy installer Chris Rudge. Said Chris: “This is an ideal system connected directly to the kitchen. The NT has its most visitors during peak sunshine, so it’s using the most electricity at the same time it is generating it.” The Trust funds the work by sales of its National Trust Green Energy, supplied by the Trust’s energy partner npower. The Trust is constantly looking to support low and zero carbon energy saving projects at its properties. One of the UK’s largest PV installations on an historic building is on the roof of the NT’s carriage museum at Arlington Court near Barnstaple. Visit http://chrisrudge.blogspot. com/2011/04/national-trust-goesgreen.html and the website www. chrisrudge.co.uk/
When did you last have your flue swept? YES, it is only October, but it’s time to look ahead to those long and very cold winter nights – if last winter is anything to go by. And, if like us in Reconnect Towers you gave your log burner a fair old bashing last year, it’s safe to assume the flue is in need of a sweep. Kevin Jones, who runs Clean Sweep, is starting to get busy as the Autumn approaches. And according to Kevin, it’s a job that needs doing annually. Equally, a flue that is being put back into use after a long lay off is an accident waiting to happen. Fire crews are often called to chimney fires because of accumulations of soot and there is also the danger from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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Kevin has been running Clean Sweep from his home in Willand for nearly six years and his clients stretch from Mid and East Devon into Exeter and beyond. Chimney sweep numbers declined over the past 20 or 30 years as people installed gas fires. But the increase in sales of log burners has revived the trade. Said Kevin: “There are a lot of open fires with back boilers and there is a trend towards log burners because they are efficient.” Kevin charges £35 per flue depending on how far he has to travel and how many clients he is catering for. Call 01884 821297 or 07773 618524.
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Payments bridge the gap HOMEOWNERS wanting to install solar products. As part of the scheme the government wants to solar thermal panels for hot water, learn from users’ experiences and or who want to replace their everyone receiving subsidies will expensive oil, liquid gas or solid be asked to submit information fuel heating systems, have at last about how the technology is heard some good news from the performing. government. If you meet all the criteria you will Installers have been waiting for receive a voucher, which has to be months to hear if and how much signed and returned with the invoice homeowners would be able to from your installer and a certificate receive in subsidies if they replace their current central heating systems from the MCS scheme. Once checked, the money will be sent or put solar thermal panels on their directly to your bank account. roofs. No vouchers will be valid beyond The subsidies – known as premium March 31 next year and the expiry payments – can be as much as date on the voucher may be earlier. £1,250 for those whose homes are currently heated by either oil, liquid The payments are limited and once gas, electricity or solid fuel. the budget limit is reached the payments will stop. For those, who want to install solar The grants will be: thermal panels, regardless of how they heat their home, the payments l Ground source heat pump are around £300. £1,250 grant for homes without mains gas heating. The government is expected to announce Renewable Heat Incentive l Biomass boiler - £950 grant (no (RHI) tariffs for generating heat gas heating). from renewables in 2012 and the l Air source heat pump - £850 premium payments are intended to grant (no gas heating). bridge the gap until then. l Solar thermal hot water panels The Government is spending up to - £300 available to all households, £15 million on the scheme, which it regardless of the type of heating is hoped will generate up to 25,000 system used. installations. To investigate all the renewable The payments are available up until technologies on offer call the next March providing you own the government advice line on property or are intending to pay 0800 512 012 or visit www. for the system and have permission energysavingtrust.org.uk/RHPP. from the owner. The property must have loft insulation to 250mm and cavity wall insulation where possible, and both the system and the installer must be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), or Solar Solar panels - £300 grant available Keymark for
Systems eligible for payments HEATING systems for which RHI can be claimed include air or ground source heat pumps, biomass boilers or solar thermal panels. Biomass boilers burn either pellets, wood chip or logs to heat water to supply the taps or run the central heating. Because the wood used comes from fast growing crops, which consume the CO2 produced during the combustion process, they are rated as zero-carbon emitting. Ground source heat pumps technology takes advantage of the fact that a few metres down the earth remains at a constant temperature of 10-15 degrees. Heat pumps take heat stored below the underground frost line and transport it via the heating system
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to the house interior. Some systems also work in reverse to cool the interior in hot weather.
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Air source heat pumps use the same principle but extract the heat from the air, rather than the ground. And because they simply move energy, rather than creating it by burning fossil fuels, they are very efficient. For every 1KWhr of electricity consumed by the heat pump it can produce 4KW of heat, giving an efficiency of 400% Solar thermal systems fitted to your roof use energy from the sun to heat domestic hot water. A conventional boiler or immersion heater is then used to make the water hotter, or to provide hot water when solar energy is unavailable.
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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TRESOC goes solar with new project COMMUNITY energy group TRESOC (Totnes Renewable Energy Society) are best known for having launched the Totnes Community Wind Farm, which is still going through the slow and demanding planning process. But the second project in their renewable energy portfolio, a large solar installation, was due to start generating at the end of September. TRESOC are partners in a 50 kWp installation at Hatchlands Farm, near Totnes, with South Western Solar Projects Ltd (SWSP), a UK Company based in Blackawton. TRESOC, which has sold shares to
hundreds of people in the Totnes area, is also working with the Sharpham Trust on 50kWp of solar PV on the Sharpham Estate to be joint-funded by both parties. These installations will generate an annual return of 7-9% over the 25-year lifetime of the project and should earn TRESOC members an annual interest award on their shares of between 3-5% from the end of 2012. Find out more at www.tresoc.co.uk, or see them at the Eco Homes Fair, in Totnes Civic Hall on October 8, 9.30am-3pm.
Just a taste of the events in Dartington and East London
Food project links communities A rare view of Holy Trinity Church, Exmouth
Jim shares his rare rooftop views JIM Morris has a pleasant spin off from his work fitting wood burning stoves. Since he started his business Devon Fires he has been enjoying some spectacular views from rooftops all over the county. Jim has now decided to share them with the public by dedicating part of his website to pictures he has taken while out on the tiles. Said Jim: “I’ve seen some amazing
views over the rooftops and it could be that no-one has seen that view for maybe a generation or so. If you have pictures you would like to share, send them to pix@devonfires. co.uk Jim’s business is based at the Woodbury Business Park between Exeter and Exmouth where he has a showroom. Call 01395 232500. Visit www. devonfires.co.uk.
A PROJECT that links two very different communities in Devon and in the heart of London is now coming to fruition with a multi-media performance in Dartington and Totnes. Since May this year two groups of 20 participants aged between five and 87 have been taking part in A Little Patch of Ground, a rural/urban food growing and performance project in Dartington and East London. The groups were brought together by Encounters, a participatory arts group based at Dartington, and performances will be at Studio 6 of Dartington Space on Friday, October 6, at 7.30 pm and Saturday, October 7, at 3pm and in Totnes Civic Hall on Tuesday, October 11 at 7.30pm.
Patch of Ground is now in its third year, encouraging people to respond creatively to the challenges of climate change and develop new ways to live in a sustainable way. Over the past five months the groups have been creating a permacultureinspired garden, cooking for each other, eating together and exchanging stories and ideas on food, the places they live, resources and climate change using creative writing, photography, drawing and performance making. Tickets are £5 (£3 conc) and £1 for under 16s. Email Ruth info@ encounters-arts.org.uk, call 07870 698333, or visit www.encounters-arts. org.uk.
01803 862803 | 07506 179 808 | mark.edlundplater@gmail.com
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Seasonal Eating OK so the summer wasn’t great, but every season has something to offer - now it’s time to get that autumnal veg into soups and stew. ‘Warm up and get cosy,’ says our seasonal produce expert Carol Lee HARVESTING, storing, bottling and pickling and the start of wonderful soups and stews - this is the essence of autumnal seasonal eating and there is an abundance ingredients out there to choose from. Traditional Chinese medicine links this time of year to the metal element and generally as a time of clearing out and tidying up, recycling rubbish and generally preparing for the coming winter and ‘hibernation’ time. How we look after ourselves this autumn will affect how we feel in the springtime, just as how we prepare the ground now will affect planting next year. Moving into this season we can feel the energy begin to turn inwards. In nature we can see the energy returning deep into the land, evident in the vibrant colours that come with the turning of the leaves. In ourselves we will be feeling the need to put on more layers, stay indoors more and keep cosy, we may feel less energetic and less keen to be out in the evening as the light fades. The metal element honours the importance of letting go of that which no longer serves us – and this relates to all levels of our being. On a physical level this may mean clearing the clutter that has built up since the spring, cutting back the dead vegetation in the garden and putting the soil to rest, and maybe even sowing some winter crops. Mentally, as the academic year begins, it is a time for goal setting, changing outmoded mental habits and thought patterns. Spiritually, this time of year is about celebrating that inner connection; spending some time in nature, enjoying the last warmth of the sun and allowing ourselves to be uplifted by the beauty and abundance that surrounds us, the colours, the
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Back to your roots crisp, bright quality of the light. These can all help foster that connection, as we reflect on the harvest of our achievements this year. In terms of seasonal eating, there is an abundance of yummy goodies to choose from the field and garden, including squash, apples and blackberries, brussel sprouts, kale and leeks. This is definitely the time to ‘warm up’ and get cosy. Here are some ideas of how you can do that l Cooking food on a lower heat for longer: casseroles and trays of mixed roasted vegetables; l Using warming spices, such as chilli; ginger; turmeric, garlic and black pepper; l Eating less raw food and salads – substitute with hearty vegetable soups; l Eating more abundant root vegetables which will help to nourish and warm the body for the cooler weather; l Gathering apples and blackberries for tasty, sweet crumbles – spiced up with a generous spoonful of cinnamon! Try this delicious and colourful soup - a favourite in our house and a sure sign that autumn is here.
Using cognitive behavioural therapy and life coaching to help you release your inner confidence ‘Kate’s compassion and empathy, and her ability to share and support, made a huge difference to my progress and my continued success’ Paula, Devon By phone (including Skype) or in person in a relaxed farmhouse setting near Totnes t: 01803 847674 m: 0777 949 6240 www.kateharris-lifecoaching.co.uk
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RECIPE: Pumpkin soup 1kg of pumpkin, diced; 3 large cloves of garlic, crushed; 2 tablespoons of olive oil; 1 level teaspoon of fennel seeds; 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley; a can of tomatoes or, even better, 1lb of fresh tomatoes skinned and chopped; 1 pint of water; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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Sauté the pumpkin and garlic in the oil for three minutes. Add the fennel seeds and parsley and continue to fry for one minute. Add the tomatoes and stir in well. Finally, add the water, sea salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer with lid on for 20 minutes. Liquidise when slightly cooled and re-heat before serving.
Now just £25
Reconnect’s Seasonal Eating is written by Carol Lee, who offers one-to-one consultations and runs workshops and courses in nutrition, health and wellbeing. Call her on 01363 82794 or visit www.naturalfoodschool.co.uk
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initial consultation including treatment
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local people local events local food local health local environment FUNERALS are a perfect example of the ‘green’ approach, throwing out dogmatic tradition (unless traditional is what you want) and putting the emphasis firmly on the most important part - the people. Reconnect here proudly presents a two-page guide to creating the funeral you really want...
the
leafcocoon
When someone close to you dies... AS Martin tells us in his editorial on page 3, when his dad died he wished he’d been more prepared. But then we don’t normally think about funerals we’d do well to learn from Martin. Perhaps the first thing to ask is: what is a funeral for, and how can it take us forward after what often feels like the worst thing that can happen? If we leave things to the last minute, and just accept the usual advice, everything can become rushed and centred around just the practicalities. The real meaning gets overlooked. We find ourselves having to choose between menu options while we’re
bellacouche...
thinking outside the box
a soft coffin in
wool & wood grown & made by hand in Devon by Yuli Somme
email:info@bellacouche.com
the leafcocoon is a complete coffin, with shroud, handles and strong integral bier. It is secure and gives a smooth outline - perfect for a natural return. www.bellacouche.com Tel: 01647 432155
distressed, and making decisions we don’t understand (and which may be unnecessary and expensive). Bringing relevant ceremony to the act of cremation or burial is what any funeral is really about. Ceremony helps us to face the loss of a person, to grieve effectively and to give thanks for a life. The practicalities of a funeral are actually quite straightforward, and need little explanation here. Often, people’s first reaction is to get the ‘dreadful business’ over and done with. But a funeral can be a poignant evocation of a person, and it’s an act of love to consider things like where to hold the ceremony (maybe away from the much unloved crematorium?), who wants to lower the coffin into the grave, who should lead the ceremony, how to involve the children, and so on. There’s no need to become an expert. It helps just to have thought about what a funeral is for, and to know where to get the help and advice that suits you best. And it’s good to realise the funeral belongs exclusively to you, so you can take control.
You’ll be advised to find an undertaker (also called a funeral director) quickly, but initially this is only to take care of the person’s body. Celebrants and good undertakers will regard ceremony as the heart of the matter, and are experienced in what is needed and what choices you have. So talk to a few celebrants and undertakers and find one you feel comfortable with, who will take control for you but not from you, and who will guide your understanding of your choices. Better still, do that now and keep their details to hand. A time of death is the hardest time to be learning the new skill of funeral arranging. Too often, people leave a mediocre funeral wondering where to put their good memories, and what to do with their grief. An advance understanding of your opportunities to create a magnificent ceremony takes a lot off your shoulders when the time comes for real, and leaves you better equipped. Jonathan Taylor
How best to honour life at its end? CELEBRANT Jonathan Taylor describes his workshops, which he runs with Jane Parsons, as “a stimulating and enjoyable way of approaching a sensitive subject, being invited into an imaginary place where you must trust your own initiative and creativity, with nobody to tell you what you must do when someone dies.” How would you want to commemorate someone who died, and how would you make sure that happened? “This is a chance to find out and understand your best way to honour life at its end,” says Jonathan. “And as we’re often told, it’s a tremendous relief to talk about these things!” Call 01803 865380 or 01803 812440.
Website offers unique in-depth resource
green fuse funeral directors green fuse supports you to create a moving and memorable funeral reflecting the life & values of the person who has died. All styles of funeral – contemporary, green, jazz, traditional, whatever you choose. Highly qualified staff (FDFS Bath University). Free funeral planning service (with or without prepayment) “Jane Morrell and Simon Smith work tirelessly to improve the standard of funerals.” Good Funeral Guide Visit our funeral centre at 7 High Street, Totnes or visit our highly informative website www.greenfuse.co.uk to find out all about funerals and bereavement. Call us on 01803 840779 (24 hour service).
funerals with heart and soul 14
HAVING obtained a degree in Funeral Services, Simon Smith is keen to pass on all he has learnt about the subject. As a funeral director with Green Fuse based on Totnes High Street, Simon and his partner Jane Morrell have recently expanded and improved their website www. greenfuse.co.uk to provide clients with all the information they might need to plan and arrange a moving and memorable funeral. According to Simon, if you spend 10-15 minutes on the site, with its photographs, helpsheets and articles, you will know more about funerals than most people in the UK. Said Simon: “This is a unique resource where you can take an in-depth look at the many aspects of funerals, including funeral ceremonies for those not affiliated to any formal religion, natural burial, caring for the body, how to help and involve bereaved children and many other subjects.” Simon recently graduated from Bath University with a foundation degree in Funeral Services. He said: “The course at Bath gave
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The Green Fuse website me a depth of information and understanding I really want to pass on. I think everyone deserves the means to be able to say goodbye in their own way, according to their own culture, beliefs and values.” Simon and Jane run training courses for people who want to become celebrants. The course takes place over three or four months and includes time for reflection, reading and practical assignments. Call 01803 840779, visit www. greenfuse.co.uk.
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local people local events local food local health local environment Funerals that are as unique as people SINCE forming The Green Funeral Company 11 years ago, Claire and Rupert Callender have arranged funerals as diverse as a Catholic Requiem Mass and a Pagan ritual at a stone circle on Bodmin Moor. They have led a coffin through a torch-lit wood with a 40-piece Samba band and they have stood in silence with four people around a grave. Said Claire: “People are as different in death as they are in life, and we believe a funeral is not an event you turn up to, it is something we create together.”
“We proudly call ourselves undertakers so there is no ambiguity about what we do. We do not have a fleet of hearses and limousines. We do not employ bearers. We do not have a standard funeral, we do not use euphemisms. “We do not consider faux-Victoriana and a mournful expression to be an assurance of respect and dignity. We can produce a traditional funeral spectacular - we have buried Generals and Lords - but we approach each funeral as unique.” Visit www.greenfuneralcompany. co.uk, call 01803 863923.
the lively responses, uninhibited engagement and imaginative contributions that emerge from our
FUNERAL EXPLORATION WORKSHOPS always make them enjoyable , revelatory, fun , inspiring
Bring your thoughts, experiences, questions… and imagination for a morning to remember. Next workshop: Wednesday 9th November, 10am-1pm, Totnes Natural Health Centre - cost £20
Jonathan Taylor & Jane Parsons
Yuli’s ‘coffins without the hard edges’ ARTIST and craft maker Yuli Somme was delighted four years ago when she discovered and rented a disused barn, tucked away behind the church at Chagford. And then Yuli, whose work includes woolen ‘soft coffins’, discovered it had a very appropriate history and name. “It’s called Bellacouche Barn,” she explains, “which means ‘beautiful resting place’ - the barn was apparently once used for making and storing coffins.” Yuli’s “coffin without the hard edges” is called the Leafshroud. “The many enfolding layers literally
shroud the body from view, the inbuilt base takes all the weight and so the whole Leafshroud is buried,” said Yuli. “This is a new and gentler approach, an alternative to the Victorian funeral coffin, and reflects an awareness of the environment, staying close to nature, intrinsically soft and comforting.” Crucial to Yuli’s work – she also makes household objects like oven gloves, hot water bottle covers and tea cosies - are local and regional wools. This makes it a truly Devonian product with subsequent low carbon footprint,” says Yuli. Call 01647 432155, or visit www. bellacouche.com
INdePeNdeNT fuNeral arraNgers aNd CeleBraNTs 01803 865380 & 01803 812440
Unique ceremonies for weddings, namings, funerals and all special occasions in the South West with singer and celebrant Danu Fox. T: 01736 786267 M: 07870 634421 www.heartsongceremonies.co.uk
Human voice helps restore the magic MUSIC is an important part of any funeral and live music can add an extra dimension to a ceremony, placing it in the moment. Singer Danu Fox’s passion for life, and expressing an appreciation of it, steered her naturally towards training as a celebrant with Green Fuse. “As an increasingly secular society we need to find ways of allowing the ‘magic’ back into ceremony,” says Danu, “creating space for the truly human and the spiritual to co-exist without the necessity for formal religion if that is not appropriate or relevant to the occasion. “Music can play a huge part in restoring this magic.”
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Danu believes music can sometimes express what the spoken word cannot. “Songs connect us to the mystery of life, to what is special, to what endures and what falls away. Songs are of another realm. A human voice singing for someone who has died is the most natural thing in the world. “As a musician I have been privileged to sing at many funerals and ceremonies. My intention as a singing celebrant is that I can serve my society with the best voice I have, encouraging us all to ‘sing’ and express more authentically our humanity and our journeys through life and death.” To listen to Danu and for more information go to www. heartsongceremonies.co.uk
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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‘We’re here, queer and NOT going shopping!’ TOTNES-based Jon Stein and Bil Rose look at South Devon groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people...
How to meet your future self LET’S face it, we’d all like to know what’s going to happen in the future. Not necessarily in a science fiction sense or even in a ‘who’s going to win the Derby?’ kind of way, but it would be good to know how things might turn out if we made this decision – or that one instead. Well, intuitive Mary Hykel Hunt believes she can do just that – and, even more interestingly, that she can teach you to do it too. Her latest book, Learning From The Future, is a plain English explanation of, and step-by-step practical guide to, what she calls Future Progression. This allows you to go into a light trance and then, using a visualisation technique like (but not necessarily) a crossroads, take a route representing one option and then meet and chat with your future self. You can even go back to the crossroads, take a different route, and check out the consequences of a different decision. Mary works in many areas of human consciousness and the book is peppered with references that she says prove it is based on “good, demonstrable science.” We suspect most people will feel the proof of the pudding is in the eating - and Learning From The Future is certainly rich and exotic, yet easily digestable, fare. If you want to know how satisfying it is in the longer term, we suggest you buy yourself a helping and tuck in… Learning From The Future, ISBN 978-1-84694-6073. Visit www.o-books.net and www.hykelhunt.co.uk.
LIFE has certainly been easier for LGBT people in recent years. But for those of us living in the Southwest, particularly in small towns and villages, social and support networks can still be harder to find - they are out there, but you do need to know where to look. A good place to start is Exeter’s Intercom Trust, a registered charity that’s provided support and advocacy to LGBT people across the Southwest peninsula for nearly 15 years. Their website provides resources and links to a whole range of groups across the region. Plymouth, meanwhile, is home to the Eddystone Trust, which provides information and support around HIV and sexual health generally. But in between the cities, it’s a little harder to find activities and support specifically for LGBT people. In recent years a number of networks have emerged to keep people in touch with one another and share information. The Facebook group Rural Queer Devon describes itself as ‘a conspiracy to get more queers into the countryside’, and in Totnes the QTs (Queer Totties – what else?) run regular social activities for gay and bi men in the area. The Gay Outdoor Club, a national organisation with a strong representation in Devon, leads walks on the first Sunday of the month. For women there are a few social groups providing a great opportunity to meet and get involved in events and activities outside of the pubbing and clubbing scene. The Hiking Dykes meet on the first
Plymouth Pride
people within the SouthWest. QwestFtM Sunday of every month for a walk in the UK (formerly Western Boys) offers support Exeter area, and the Plymouth Areas to FtM (female to male) people and have a Lesbian Social (PALS) meet on the third good website, run a summer camp and a Sunday of the month for a moorland, biennial conference. coastal or wood walk, as well as ad hoc activities such as bike rides, boat trips So, if you’re an LGBT person looking to and gigs. connect with like-minded people, there’s plenty of scope. Find a group, try it out, Dance events include Exeter-based WOW and if you don’t like it – be creative and (Women on Wednesdays), which provides start your own. It may be just the thing the a friendly atmosphere sometimes lacking rest of us are waiting for! in clubs. All these events can be a Resources: springboard for networking Intercom Helpline 0800 612 3101 and meeting other women, often resulting in informal www.lgbtcollective.org.uk invites to other activities. The www.eddystone.org.uk - 0800 328 3508 alternative lesbian scene in hikingdykesexeter@hotmail.com Devon and Cornwall may be devonpals@hotmail.co.uk geographically widespread, but it's warm, welcoming and womenonweds.social.exeter@hotmail.com inclusive. www.goc.org.uk (Gay Outdoor Club) The South West Transgender http://equalitysouthwest.org.uk/transgender Equality Network (SWTEN) is a www.westernboys.org/index.html forum for transgender (trans or 'T')
New company aims to take ethical clothing range global - by bike CARING for your environment can also be trendy. A new Devon company with a green agenda is making an impression on the growing world of outdoor and mountain bike clothing. Lympstone-based Whackjob was set up early this year but has already secured a strong and loyal following in the South West. With an ethos of sustainability and being environmentally friendly, Whackjob is hoping to go global with its bamboo fibre clothing. The company’s founder, Joel Teague, hopes the striking design and special qualities of his tee shirts will be a hit as sports clothing.
Dance party THE Nataraj Dance Party at Scoriton Village Hall on October 2 will feature the music of Presence and start with a meditation 6.45-8pm. Email msurahbhi@yahoo.co.uk for more details.
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SO there was editor Foster hanging around backstage at the Wilderness Festival near Oxford in August when who should he see but Fyfe Dangerfield, main man behind indie band Guillemots? And what’s that he’s reading? Well, that’s the way Foster tells it…
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He said: “We think man-made fibre riding shirts generally suck. They are awful for the environment, can be ethically dodgy to source, and they make you smell funny because after a couple of rides it’s like a bacterial Butlins in there. “They also cost too much, can set
off allergies, and don’t feel right against your skin. “The answer to all these things is ‘bamboo fibre’; ethical, effective, ecologically sound, healthy, and basically just really nice to wear.” Joel added that Bamboo was very fast growing and absorbs vast amounts of CO2 as it grows. It does not require any pesticides or herbicides to thrive and is therefore usually organically grown. Added to this, Whackjob only uses fabric that has come from traceable and ethical suppliers. Said Joel: “Wherever possible we only use suppliers who are South-West based, including our designers and even our paper suppliers. Our product packaging is fully biodegradable and even the ink used in our printing process has to be ecologically as good as you can get. So as you can see, Whackjob is very much an environmentally conscious and focused company.” Visit www.whackjob.co.uk.
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Organic gardening THIS time of year in the garden isn’t just about tidying up and making a brew while you wait for the weather to improve - there are plenty of jobs to do, as Joa Grower of Growers Organics explains LATE Autumn is traditionally a time for getting compost on the ground to prepare the soil for the next big growing season by adding compost, manure or last year’s leaf mould to beds that have become vacant after harvesting. If you have ‘no dig’ raised beds, simply spread the composts or manures over the soil and let the worms do the work. By Spring, when you are ready to use the beds again, there will be a beautifully mixed soil. If you prefer digging, just add to the soil as you are digging. If you haven’t already done it, you can harvest your onions and main crop potatoes and store them for the winter. Try to choose a dry sunny day to harvest potatoes. This is one of the great gardening treats for this time of year - our daughter likens it to ‘digging for treasure’. Leave the potatoes in the sunshine to try before putting them in a hessian or reinforced paper sack. And make sure you don’t store damaged or diseased spuds - if any start to rot it will spread to any other potato it is touching. Onions need to be laid out on a rack or an old pallet in a shed or greenhouse, to dry out completely. Don’t be tempted to store them until the skins feel really dry and crispy or you run the risk of the whole crop going mouldy. Diseased onions or ones that have started to flower won’t store and need to be used immediately. Once the onions have dried they can be plaited and hung or kept in a net bag. It is worth checking your stored crop of onions or potatoes regularly for rot to prevent it spreading to the whole crop. The weather’s starting to get a little less
Lurvly leaf mould plant-friendly at times so, after removing the yellow leaves from your brussels, broccoli and kales, check that they are firm enough - and If not, tie each one to a cane or stake. This is a good time to plant Autumn garlic and broad beans, both of which will be ready to harvest in the late spring. Over-wintering your beans like this can often be a way of escaping the dreaded Black Fly. As you prune your currants and gooseberries, it’s very easy to take a few hardwood cuttings. They need to be approximately 20cm of this year’s growth – just push them into a spare bit of earth, to a depth of 6-8cm. They should be rooted by late Spring, but don’t lift them from this position until the following Winter. We’ll be closing the nursery and finishing at Totnes market at the end of September, but we’ll be back in the New Year with lots more organic vegetable plants and a whole new range of organic flowering plants too. And look out for our great gardening courses, which also start in March.
Don’t leave the leaves... LEAF mould is one of the finest soil conditioners and when you spread it on the top of the soil it also creates a lovely seedbed for Spring sowing. However, like most things in the garden, it requires some forward planning, because leaves collected this Autumn won’t be ready to use until at least Spring 2013. If you have the room, a very basic wire cage is all that’s needed. This really is just a stake in each corner and chicken wire wrapped round it. Fill the cage to the top and press the leaves down as much as you can, then just leave it. If you don’t like the cage option, you can fill black bags. Old compost bags work well (we’ve got loads that you’re welcome to). Fill the bags to the brim then tie them up. Make a few holes in the bags with a fork and then just store them somewhere out of the way until they are ready to use. You can use leaves from any deciduous trees and the best bit is it’s all free! Reconnect’s Organic Gardening column is written by Joa and Charlie Grower of Growers Organics. Meet them in person at Totnes market on Fridays and Saturdays from March. Visit www.growersorganics, or call 01752 881180.
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Next four part seminar series commencing September 3rd Facilitator Jeff Sleeman BSc AMAC For details please ring 01392 811168 / 07977 272174 or visit www.happymondays.org.uk
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WE’VE got some big themes running through Eco Homes this time around - community involvement through the ATMOS project (right) and over the page, Schumacher’s new Natural Building course and an innovative Passivhaus project (pictured left)
ILLUSTRATIONS: copyright LED Architects Ltd
Eco homes
IF you see someone is applying for planning permission on a large local plot, the chances are it’s for yet another faceless housing estate, maybe with a few token ‘affordable’ homes to oil the wheels of the planning process. Or if it’s for a site on the edge of town, it might be another industrial estate – a series of large metal boxes that become a gloomy, industrial wasteland after the businesses shut down in the evening. But there’s a plan in the pipeline for a site in Totnes that promises a whole lot more than that, including affordable homes, green business start-up units and interior and outside community space – all designed to meet exemplar sustainable building standards and all powered by renewable energy. The plan, for the Dairy Crest site next to Totnes railway station, is the brainchild of the Totnes Development Trust, a not-forprofit company with charitable status, working with Transition Town Totnes and local architects LED. Dairy Crest was a major employer in Totnes until it closed in 2007 with the loss of 160 jobs. Since then the plot has stood empty. The Atmos Project team hope their scheme inspires the support of Totnes community, leading to planning support from South Hams District Council – encouraging the owners of the site to work with them to create community ownership of the project. At the centre of the plan is the concept of mixed residential, commercial and amenity use. Totnes Development Trust chairman Ed Vidler said: “The idea is for the site to be developed in the way the community wants, and not become just another housing estate or supermarket. “Flexible business incubation units would allow new or small innovative businesses to start up and progress onto bigger units as they grow, replacing the employment lost by the closure of the dairy. They could also live on-site in affordable housing. “ Architect Andy Kirby of LED said: “Sustainability is central to our brief. The design is Carbon Neutral, using natural local materials, super insulation and passive solar design, all supported by renewable energy.” As well as affordability and sustainability,
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architects LED have had another, more elemental, issue to contend with on the north part of the site – flooding. “The site is right next to the river Dart, so the area is prone to flooding,” said Andy, “so parts of the site would remain an operational flood plain with buildings designed to integrate with the natural landscape. Living with water is something we need to be able to adapt to.” Speaking to those behind the project, there is a very real sense of wanting the people of Totnes to have control over how the town evolves. Rob Hopkins, founder of Transition Town Totnes said: “If it was just housing on the site, it would be cut off from the community. Our plan reflects the energy of the town and encourages the community to be part of this vibrant new area. This process is about the community taking ownership of what they want to see built in the town.”
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THE proposed site for the ATMOS project, left - next to Totnes railway station and running down to the river bank. The design includes: sustainable business incubation units, above; sustainable, affordable housing, below; and community spaces.
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Glorious Good Wood Central to that is the development of the Grade 2 listed Atmospheric Railway pumping house, known as the Brunel Building, which could be used to house community-organised and managed events, perhaps supported by a restaurant, café or even a local ale brewery serving visitors to the site! To find out more or to offer your support, visit the Eco Homes Fair on
October 8 at Totnes Civic Hall or email info.@transitiontowntotnes.org. You can also follow the project on Twitter and Facebook. Look out too for details of a public presentation at the Civic Hall in October. Call Transition Town on 01803 867358. Andy can be contacted at LED Architects Ltd in Totnes on 01803 867377, or email info@ledarchitects.co.uk.
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Eco homes
TEMPOR
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CONTEMPORARY
New Schumacher College natural build course includes modules on Timber in Natural Building
DESIGN
FOR LOW IMPACT LIVING DESIGN FOR LOW IMPACT LIVING
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AN innovative new qualification, focused on traditional building skills and natural design techniques, is starting up in 2012, based in South Devon. The Certificate in Natural Build, Vocations at Schumacher College at Dartington, will be the first of its kind in the country, and is described by the organisers as “super-flexible”. Jon Rae, head of Vocations at Schumacher College, said: “You can take all six modules for a good vocational grounding, or you can take each one as a stand-alone short course of five days - great for learning specific techniques say in cob or strawbale building, dry-stone walling or eco-design. You can even learn how to build your own coracle.” Teachers will include experts such as local designer Robert Somerville, Adam Weisman and Katy Bryce. Everyone is welcome. The new certificate will run alongside an already successful programme of learning opportunities for all timetables and abilities in the field of Sustainable Horticulture. “It’s all part of the college’s drive to provide vocational training alongside our already very popular Masters and short-course programmes in transformation for sustainability,” explains Jon. “And the great thing is that we are running these new programmes in the old Craft Education Centre on the
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The six modules of the Certificate in Natural Build: l Introduction to Natural Building January 25-29 l Timber in Natural Building – February 20-24 l Insulation in Natural Building – March 19-23 l Mass in Natural Building – April 16-20 l Natural plasters and finishes – May 14-18 l Ecological Design – May 28 – June 1 l Planning for self-build – June 25-29 Dartington Hall Estate. The building has been completely refurbished to provide a cosy learning environment that is true to its original purpose. “When Dorothy and Leonard Elmhirst came across a derelict Dartington Hall in 1925 and started the social and educational experiment that would set the trajectory for the Totnes of today – a town well-positioned and resilient to face the challenges of economic uncertainty, fossil fuel depletion and climate change – this is exactly what they intended: an opportunity for local people to relearn the skills of the land, providing rural regeneration locally and a blue-print for the rest of the world to follow.” Visit www.schumachercollege.org.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment LIKE all the best ideas, it’s very simple: build an ultra-insulated, virtually airtight house and carefully control the flow of air in and out of it and energy use will be radically reduced. But, as is often the case, simple doesn’t necessarily mean easy. The concept is called Passivhaus, a building standard and technique first developed in Germany but which is rapidly gaining momentum in the UK. Adam Dadeby is a Passivhaus consultant and, with architect Janet Cotterell and builder Jonathan Williams, has set up Passivhaus Homes (PHH) to provide technical and practical advice, to sell the specialist parts required… and to offer bed and breakfast. Adam, whose own home in Dartington was one of the new company’s first projects, explains: “The idea is to offer B&B in the second floor bedroom and ensuite to give people a flavour of Passivhaus living.” Even by Passivhaus standards, Adam’s home is unusual in that it’s a refurbishment – based on one of the already architecturally interesting Hunters Moon homes originally built for the Dartington Estate. “We always wanted to retain as much as possible of the original house,” explains Adam, “although it would actually have been far simpler, and cheaper too, to have pulled the old house down and started from scratch.” The result, though, is one of the few Passivhaus refurbishments in the UK – and one of the best insulated homes in the country. And that is no hollow claim because in Passivhausland everything is measurable. Said Adam: “The dimensions and values of everything from wall and floor area to shading, from insulation materials to ventilation, are carefully calculated and entered on a spreadsheet called the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP). “Using a process called modeling, the precise consequence of every variation in materials and dimension can then be calculated to achieve the desired level of insulation. So there is no overengineering and no wastage. It’s a very cost-effective way of building.” And the results are truly impressive.
Precise benefits of Passivhaus The common unit used to measure the energy efficiency of European homes is the kilowatt hour per square metre per year and a typical new-build, complying to current building regs, comes out at 60-80. To qualify for Passivhaus status, a house has to come in at under 15. If you need any more stats (Adam’s got plenty), an average UK home requires around 20,000 kilowatt hours per year for heating and hot water – Adam’s house is twice the size of the average UK home but he is expecting his to weigh in at around 3,000. In practical terms, a Passivhouse doesn’t really look that different. The walls are thicker because of the insulation and the windows are triple glazed, but a lot of the work is done before the build starts (the relationship between builder and architect is crucial in those early modeling stages) and much of the unique Passivhaus stuff is actually under the skin. The heart (or should that be lungs?) of the Passivhaus concept is insulation and ventilation. In a conventional, old draughty house, the air is changed at least 10 times an hour – it’s around 7-8 times even in a new-build. To get Passivhaus status it needs to be less than 0.6 – and Adam’s house comes in at an amazing 0.19! But remember, the air in a
conventional house is exchanged at the whim of the draughts and the weather - in a Passivhaus it is carefully controlled. Tucked away in a boxroom upstairs, Adam has a shiny stainless steel unit that gently and silently expels old air (after removing all its heat) and sucks in new air (reintroducing the heat to it as it passes), and distributing it through ducts around the house. If the weather gets a bit chilly, the system automatically adds a little heat to the air supply (which it takes from
Adam's Passivhaus home in Dartington, left, and the compact unit that is effectively the house’s only radiator, controlling the flow and temperature and flow of fresh air through concealed ducting. The iPhone on top gives you some idea of size a thermal store, fed by a massive 9.4 square metre array of thermal panels). The result is… well, fresh air. All the time. And all over the house. Plus, of course, those lower bills. Passivhaus techniques and principles can be applied to any house and although you have to go some lengths to achieve Passivhaus status, any work in that direction is good for reducing fuel bills and energy footprints. Call Adam on 07968 778875, or visit www.passivhaushomes.co.uk.
Charity appeal for help with repairs REFURNISH, which provides affordable furniture for people on benefits AND provides work for those finding it difficult to get back in employment, are desperate for volunteers with glassfibre experience. Refurnish’s Karen Price said: “Our lorries play a crucial role but many of them leak and need some tender loving care.” They also need help in their showrooms and workshops. Call Karen on 01752 897331, email volunteers@dff.org.uk or visit www.dff.org.uk.
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Sharpham Apple Day Apple Olympics and Fun Run Wild food cooked on fire Bring your apples for pressing Environmental art Free entry for all the family October 16, 10am-3pm
YOU know how it works... if you’re organising, or are involved in, an event you think would interest Reconnect readers, you just send us the details and we blab it all over South Devon. Email us at editor@ reconnectonline.co.uk - and if we really like it, we’ll run you a story too... OCTOBER SATURDAY 1
Back by Popular Demand!
Craft & Holistic Fair Oct 15-16th 11am-5pm, Imperial Hotel, Torquay
Sustainable Crediton, plastic pickup afternoon, dowlingnancy@yahoo.co.uk SUNDAY 2 Nataral Dance Party, Scoriton village hall, starting with meditation 6.30-8pm, msurahbhi@yahoo.co.uk MONDAY 3
Clairvoyants, Healing, Tarot, Complementary Therapies, Craft Stalls and much more...
Cafe Scientifique, Exeter Phoenix, with Dr Kirsten Pullen, Paignton Zoo, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk
FREE Admission www.bodymindspirit.org.uk Tim Barrs Poster2.indd 2
UNTIL NOVEMBER 26 Salvatore Arancio, Spacex gallery, Exeter, www. spacex.co.uk
FRIDAY 7 A Little Patch of Ground – final performance, Studio 6, Dartington Hall, 7.30pm, £5/4, 01803 847070, www.encounters-arts.org.uk SATURDAY 8 Artisans Market, unique local crafts, Methodist Hall, Fore St, Totnes, 11am3pm, free entry, www. totnesartisansmarket.com Eco Homes Fair, local energy companies, builders, architects and Transition groups, Totnes Civic Hall, 9.30am-3pm, www. transitiontowntotnes.org.
Tarte Noire, Women’s Playback Theatre, Cygnet New Theatre, Friars Gate, Exeter, 7.45pm, http:// tartenoire.co.uk
Secret Film Club, St Bartholomew Church, Coffinswell, naturaloutlook@o2.co.uk or 01803 875527
Poetry Conversation, hosted by Alice Oswald, Sharpham House, 7.30pm, admin@sharphamtrust.org, www.sharphamtrust.org Book launch: The Transition Companion by Rob Hopkins, Totnes Civic Hall, 7.30pm, free, www. transitiontowntotnes.org THURSDAY 6 Plymouth Eco Business Fayre, National Marine Aquarium, stands, advice and speakers, 01752 304220, www.ecoplymouth. co.uk
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Cara Dillon, folk music, Exeter Phoenix, 01392 667080, www. exeterphoenix.org.uk
UNTIL SUNDAY 16 Then and Now, Harbour House gallery, Kingsbridge, www.harbourhouse.org.uk
TUESDAY 4
02/09/2011 15:23
Learn to Darn (or Darn Better!), Monks Retreat, Ramparts Walk, Totnes, 6pm, free, www. transitiontowntotnes.org
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SUNDAY 9 Fabulous Food Swap organised by Seedy Sisters, Dartington Village Hall, 2-4pm, free, ekadreamer@ dadeby.co.uk TUESDAY 11 A Little Patch of Ground – final performance, Civic Hall, 7.30pm, £5/4, 01803 847070, www.encountersarts.org.uk WEDNESDAY 12 Making Peace in Turbulent times, The
Mansion House, Totnes, 7.30pm, 01803 867358, www.transitiontowntotnes. org FRIDAY 14 Jurassic Journey, multi-media celebration of Jurassic Coast, St Bartholomews Church, Coffinswell, 7.30pm, £7.50/5.50 SATURDAY 15 AND SUNDAY 16 Craft and Holistic Fair, Imperial Hotel, Torquay, 11am-5pm, www. bodymindspirit.org.uk Sustainable Crediton’s Harvest Seasonal Supper, Boniface Centre, Crediton, 01363777624, lindaandcolinl@ phonecoop.coop University of Exeter and Transition Exeter Workshop, Sidwell St. Methodist Church, 10am, j.pollard@exeter.ac.uk SUNDAY 16 Apple, Pumpkin and Pizza Day, Embercombe, near Haldon Racecourse, Exeter, 11am-5pm – see page 25 for the full story, www.embercombe.co.uk. Sharpham Apple Day, Sharpham House, Ashprington, Totnes, 11am4pm, www.sharphamtrust. org Craft and holistic fair, Imperial Hotel, Torquay, 11am-5pm, www. bodymindspirit.org.uk TUESDAY 18 Tarte Noire, Women’s Playback Theatre performance, The Jolly
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local people local events local food local health local environment ONE for the diary: buy tickets now for next year’s big Westcountry Storytelling Festival and get an early bird booking discount. There’s a limited number of yurts and tipis available too! Find out more on page 25 and visit www. weststoryfest. co.uk to book
CRUX CRAFT FAIR FRIDAY 25TH NOV SATURDAY 26TH SUNDAY 27TH
RATTERY VILLAGE HALL DEVON TQ10 9LD ORIGINAL WORK BY SELECTED LOCAL DESIGNER – MAKERS
www.cruxcraftfair.co.uk
Farmer – upstairs, 8 Market Street, Newton Abbot, 7.45pm, http://tartenoire. co.uk
Theatre, Exeter, www. exeternorthcott.com.
NOVEMBER
SATURDAY 19
Maggy Whitehouse presents One Vision talk The Quest of your Soul, St David’s Church, Exeter, 7pm, £6, www. onevisionfoundation. com
TUESDAY 1 UNTIL WEDNESDAY 9 The Dart Drama Festival, The Flavel, Dartmouth, www.theflavel. org.uk
Sustainable Crediton’s Seed Swap, lindaandcolinl@phonecoop. coop
Crikey It’s Vintage, retro clothing fair, Thistle Hotel, Exeter, November 18, 11am-5pm, shelleybarns@ live.co.uk
Poetry Conversation, hosted by Alice Oswald, Sharpham House, 7.30pm, admin@sharphamtrust.org, www.sharphamtrust.org
FRIDAY 21
MONDAY 7
UNTIL NOVEMBER 9 The Art of Smallness Harbour House gallery, Kingsbridge, www. harbourhouse.org.uk SATURDAY 22 Come on the Quest to 2030, Totnes Methodist Hall, 2pm, £4/3, www. transitiontowntotnes.org Incredible Edible work afternoon, the rockery behind the Rugby Club, Borough Park, Totnes, 1pm, www.transitiontowntotnes.org WEDNESDAY 26 Film night: Follaton Community Cinema, Totnes, showing Station Agent (15), 7pm, non-members pay £5 on the door, www. follatoncommunitycinema. co.uk Family willow workshop, Sharpham House, Ashprington, Totnes, 10am-3pm, £12/6, 01803 732542, www. sharphamtrust.org FRIDAY 28 Tony Law, comedy, The Flavel, Dartmouth, £12, www.theflavel.org.uk, www. mrtonylaw SATURDAY 29 Artisans Market, unique local crafts, Methodist Hall, Fore St, Totnes, 11am3pm, free entry, www. totnesartisansmarket.com Halloween Ceilidh & Feast: Night of the Living Fed! Totnes Civic Hall, 6.30pm, £5/1, www. transitiontowntotnes.org SUNDAY 30 Robin Ince: Happiness Through Science, Northcott
4–7 10 – 5 10 – 5
St Mary’s Christmas Tree Decorating, Birdwood House, 7pm, £4/3 TUESDAY 8 Tarte Noire, Women’s Playback Theatre performance, Crediton Arts Centre, East Street, 7.45pm, http://tartenoire.co.uk FRIDAY 11 Joined up Futures: Learning, Thinking, Doing – forum on change in education, Transition Town Totnes, Mansion House, Totnes, 10am – 2pm, £10, www. transitiontowntotnes.org SATURDAY 12 UNTIL SUNDAY 20 Ann King and Denise Orchard, Harbour House gallery, Kingsbridge, www. harbourhouse.org.uk Artisans Market, unique local crafts, Methodist Hall, Fore St, Totnes, 11am3pm, free entry, www. totnesartisansmarket.com Secret Film Club, St Bartholomew Church, Coffinswell, naturaloutlook@o2.co.uk or 01803 875527 Hoot! Cabaret in aid of Oxfam, compered by Jackie Juno, The Dolphin Inn, Bovey Tracey, 01626 835802 jackiejuno@ yahoo.co.uk Mind, Body and Spirit Fair, Marldon Village Hall, Paignton, 11am-4.30pm, www.mysticevents.co.uk TUESDAY 15 Todd Acamesis presents a One Vision talk, The Higher-Self Briefings, St David’s Church,
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Exeter, 7pm, £6, www. onevisionfoundation.com
Crikey It’s Vintage, clothing, jewellery and goodies, Thistle Hotel, Exeter, 11am-5pm, shelleybarns@live.co.uk TUESDAY 22 UNTIL DECEMBER 4 Spectra: Colours of Life, Harbour House gallery, Kingsbridge, www. harbourhouse.org.uk Tarte Noire, Women’s Playback Theatre performance, Bogan House, High Street, Totnes, 7.45pm, http://tartenoire.co.uk
Experimental ceramics, glass & firing workshop COMING UP Raku firing workshop Saturday, October 15 10am-4pm - £45 Xmas cards and decorations Saturday, November 19 10am - 4pm - £45 The Potting Shed, Western Barns, Ashprington TQ9 7EE 01803 865033 www.pottingshedworkshop.com
WEDNESDAY 23 Martyn Joseph, acoustic music, St Bartholomews Church, Coffinswell, 7.30pm £16.50 FRIDAY 24 UNTIL SUNDAY 27 Crux Craft Fair, Rattery Village Hall, 10am-5pm, www.cruxcraftfair.co.uk Film night: (movie TBA - see website) Follaton Community Cinema, Totnes, 7pm, £5, 01803 868455, www. follatoncommunitycinema. co.uk SATURDAY 26 Winterfest - celebrating five years of Transition in Totnes, Civic Hall, 11-4pm free, 01803 867358, www. transitiontowntotnes.org Artisans Market, unique local crafts, Methodist Hall, Fore St, Totnes, 11am-3pm, free entry, www.totnesartisansmarket. com SUNDAY 27 South West Christmas Without Cruelty Festival, guest Benjamin Zephaniah, Exeter Corn Exchange, Market Street, Exeter, 10am4.30pm, free Coffinswell & Daccombe Christmas Fayre, St Bartholomews Church, Coffinswell, 2pm, free, http://coffinswellevents. weebly.com
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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You know it will be great The truth is, it really can change your life YES, it really is happening! That is, to my absolute delight, the ‘intuitive’ workshop I have been working on will be happening in Exeter on Saturday, October 29. That means I will be working with professional psychic Mary Hykel Hunt, who I have been training with for quite a few years, and I am both delighted and flattered we are going to be working together. You can find out more about how Mary works in her book, incidentally, which is reviewed elsewhere in Reconnect. The workshop is for everyone – whether or not they think they are intuitive. In fact, as I mentioned in the last article, everyone IS intuitive. But for most of us, our inner voice kicks in when we are young children and leads us to believe we should instead predict the future based on the individual (mostly traumatic) experiences we have as youngsters. As a result, our mind is then in charge and we work largely on a conceptual level. Well, actually we don’t, but we just aren’t aware there are other aspects to our decisions because we are only aware of the day-to-day conceptual factors… The workshop will offer individuals the opportunity to get in touch with their deep personal truth - the underlying energy which both gave us life and is in touch will all sorts of other things we don’t normally notice. And once you realise it’s genuinely there, all types of information arises in our lives, much of it quite extraordinary because it affects the way we perceive life. Let me give you a personal example. You may know, I’ve been diagnosed as having a brain disease and had to step down as an independent financial adviser after 20 years in the job. My initial reactions were distress and depression and anger and rage and all sorts of similar issues - not least because I had the inner question coming up ‘what am I here for?’ and the answer seemed to be ‘well, there’s no way of knowing because you can’t even work in the financial sector’. The brain scan suggested I won’t be able to be employed in the foreseeable future and my overall reaction was effectively to beat myself up and blame myself for ‘not getting it right’.
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But when I did the exercise to get in touch with my deep inner-truth, the underlying energy, what came up was that I’ve spent much of the last 20 years in front of a computer and working in a conceptual way. Yes, I have been able to offer my clients genuine help and support, but the whole financial sector is largely to do with a combination of perception and impression. That is, money is just an idea. It doesn’t really, energetically, exist. So what was an alternative? I found myself looking out of the window at the cloudy sky with the sun shining through it and appreciating what a totally wonderful, beautiful world I was in. What am I here for? I don’t know – but I realise I don’t need to know. I now make sure I go outside every day and notice what an incredible reaction I have to the experience of actually being here. Irrespective of the weather, whether it’s too hot or too cold or too windy or too wet. Makes no difference. This is a most wonderful, beautiful world and if you get in touch with your personal truth – yes, everything changes. And that’s what we’ll be helping people to appreciate at the workshop. It’s at the Exeter Natural Health Centre, 83-84 Queen Street, Exeter EX4 3RP (just behind the Boston Tea Party), and costs £50 for the full day. We have a limited number of participants so if you’re interested and would like to come and do it, please give me or Mary a call and we’ll book you in. My phone number is 01392 221129 and Mary’s is 01404 45262. And I can virtually guarantee that it’ll be brilliant!
Yurt gets luxury Morrocan theme FRIENDS of Reconnect and all-round good eggs (freerange and organic) Mill Valley Yurts have added something yet more special to their lovely offgrid site in Cornwall. As well as the beautifully fitted out yurts
and shepherd’s hut, they have recently added an even more beautifully fitted out yurt with a posh Moroccan theme. Visit www.millvalley.co.uk, or call 01208 841163 to book and go earth yourself!
Unique hand-made crafts IF you’re looking for unique craft items hand-made in Devon, the Market for Artisans in the Methodist Hall, Totnes, is for you. Stalls include, wood carvings, flower and art photography, flower and paper jewellery, hand-stitched cards, book marks, angel art, woven rugs, baskets, upcycled clothing and toys, bags, cushions, kitchen textiles, mirrors, boxes, paintings, mosaics, cakes, metalwork, felting, designer clothing and knitwear - and fairly traded goodies from Jentle Trading. Refreshments are home-made with an emphasis on gluten-free cakes, savouries and sweets. Entry is free. The next markets are October 8 and 29, November 12 and 26, and December 3, 11am-3pm. Visit www. totnesartisansmarket.com
Local produce at new deli
You can email Robin at robin. currie@btconnect.com and see his weird and wonderful ceramics at www. robincurrie.co.uk
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HOPING to meet the growing demand for locally sourced food is a new Exmouth deli in the town’s new-look Strand Gardens. The Deli on the Strand has loads of locally-sourced produce, plus Devon-made chutneys and jams and a wide range of cheeses, olives and meats. It is also offering coffees, teas, sandwiches and paninis. The deli is run by Beccy Bashforth and partner Chris Smith who both have experience in catering and retailing. Chris works full time as a pilot for Flybe. “We’ve both wanted to do this for a long time and we both love our food so this seemed an obvious move,” said Beccy.
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Apples, pumpkins, pizzas and photos
And join us at the big Westcountry Storytelling Fest!
Apple, Pumpkin and Pizza Day October 16, 11am-5pm
Picture: SUZY MUMME
APPLE, Pumpkin and Pizza Day at Embercombe will be a glorious feast of activities, workshops, games, live music, entertainment, trails, tours, talks, stalls - and, of course, wonderful organic food. Following the success of our Midsummer Fair, Reconnect will be there again – this time giving you the chance to get one of your own photos on the cover of our next issue! But first that food - sizzling organic pizzas from clay ovens, meat and veggie BBQs and lots more home-produced, Embercombe delights, including toffee apples, honey cake, pumpkin soup cooked over the open fire, waffles, fresh salads and more! Apples, pumpkins and pizzas will be the stars of the day take your own apples along and go home with a bottle of freshly squeezed juice (take your bottles, please), or take your own pumpkin/squash and join the great weigh-in. And don’t forget your cameras because the Reconnect stand will be running a competition to find the best pic taken on the day – the winning photo will be featured on the next Reconnect cover and the three runners-up inside the magazine. And there will be stalls too, including Fair Trade goods from India, Bangladesh, Bali and Napal on sale from Natural Nomads and Jentle Trading. Look out too for a Spacex print workshop and a variety of rural crafts in tipis in the craft village. And Juno, the natural family life magazine, will be hosting a creative space for parents and little ones. There will also be free tractor rides, trails, talks, storytelling, music, performance and traditional field games. Said organiser Sue Charman: “There will be something for every age group and all Embercombe events are
SEASONAL food for all the family - and a chance to get one of your photos on the next cover of Reconnect. See you there! family and dog-friendly and committed to inspiring a truly sustainable world.” Entry is £5 for adults, £3 children in advance, £6 and £4 on the door. Family tickets are £15 in advance (two adults and up to four children) and concessions are £4 in advance, £5 on the door. Book on the website with a card, or call 01647 252983. Parking is free. Check the Embercombe website on the day – in poor weather, parking will be at Exeter Racecourse with a regular minibus shuttle. And please do not park in drives and turning spaces along the road near Embercombe thanks! Disabled access is over bumpy stone paths and cut grass with steep inclines but no steps. Call Sue Charman on 01647 252983 or 01548 521207, email sue@embercombe.co.uk, or visit www.embercombe. co.uk.
ONCE upon a time there was a small, magical, eco-festival which every two years would put up yurts and marquees, light fires and hang out flags as storytellers from all over the globe, the UK and the Westcounty make their way towards the green Devon countryside to tell their enthralling tales. And we are very excited and proud to announce we will be joining forces with Embercombe who are hosting the Westcountry Storytelling Festival there in 2012 over the August Bank Holiday, Friday 24 – Monday 27. And if you thought stories were for children at bedtime....you’re in for some surprises and some inspiration. Stay in a yurt, a tipi or a tent; enjoy opening and closing fire ceremonies; see shire horses ploughing and an ancient threshing machine at work; bake bread; live in the woods like the merry men – this will be a festival you won’t forget. Tickets are on sale online, so book now and get an early bird discount and the chance to stay in a yurt or tipi (numbers limited). Visit www.weststoryfest.co.uk and look out for more details in Reconnect over coming issues.
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local people local events local food local health local environment Results with confidence
WELCOME to Wellbeing.
THIS is THE place to come to find natural health and wellbeing practitioners across South Devon and beyond. So that also means it’s THE place for practitioners and centres to advertise. We keep our rates affordable (an 1/8-page advertisement
can be just £41.85 a month) and we offer the unique opportunity to tell your story through our professionally written editorials. We’ll even help you write the text and design the ad. Call Pete on 01395 270157 or Martin on 01803 868455 and talk to people who know the market and area.
New clinic offers expert team effort WITH so many complementary therapies on offer these days it’s difficult to know which is best for your particular ailment. Instead of working alone, the experienced therapists at Exmouth’s new Hands-on-Health clinic operate as a team to give you best advice about treatment. Owner Albie McMahon says one type of treatment may be all you need, but if a multi-disciplinary approach would be helpful, the team will work together to get you feeling stronger, fitter and more relaxed.
Fair returns after success
He added: “This is the sort of opportunity normally only available to elite athletes, but we feel everyone should have the opportunity to look after themselves properly.” The clinic, in Victoria Road, opened in May and strives to keep things local and be as eco-friendly as possible. The eco-clinic has a low carbon footprint, using sustainable and organic products wherever possible. The walls, floors and ceilings have been insulated and the windows are all double glazed. Fuel-efficient underfloor heating has been added to all treatment rooms and the studio and the floor covering is sustainably-produced bamboo.
A CRAFT and holistic fair organised at the Imperial Hotel in Torquay by Tim Barr was such a success he has booked another for October. Tim formed Manor Events and staged the fair back in February. He said: “The event was an amazing success. Fifty stallholders took part and we had over 400 people through the door over the weekend. Demand for another fair was so strong, nearly half the stallholders rebooked straight away.” Now the fair is returning on October 15 and 16. Tim says the fair will offer an eclectic mix of tarot readers, mediums, therapists and beauty treatments, plus local crafts from jewellery to art work. The fair will run from 11am-5pm on both days and admission is free. The success of the Torquay event also resulted in Tim staging fairs in nearby Totnes. For information visit www.bodymindspirit.org.uk
Hands On Health owner Albie McMahon, above, and relexologist Sue Arnold, right free and free of acrylics, vinyl resins and harmful petrochemical solvents, and all the furniture was supplied by a Devon company that rescues and recycles office furniture. “Even our telephone system is recycled,” said Albie. Visit www.hands-onhealth.co.uk or call 01395 224207.
Norwegian Wood
All paints used are environmentally friendly, allergy
Persephone College UK Unfolding Human Potential
SUSTAINABLE ORGANIC BED & BREAKFAST WITH EN-SUITE WELLBEING. GLORIOUS VIEWS & GARDENS. • Budget holidays: £25 pppn, includes organic continental breakfast • The Full Monty: £35 pppn includes multi choice organic cooked breakfast menu Nutritional Naturopathic/iridology consultation: £40. Heather will look at the whole person and root causes of symptoms. Effective and preventative for infertility, arthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, psoriasis, depression, stress, anxiety, acid reflux. Heather Nicholson
PSYCHOPHONETICS
“All humAn chAllenges Are opportunities for spirituAl development”
psychophonetics is a new form of holistic counselling, coaching and psychotherapy. it is a unique method of enhancing self-awareness and renewing the whole human being - body, life energy, soul and spirit. stroud, glos 14th of october 2011: free psychophonetics taster day stroud, glos 3rd-5th of november 2011: experiential weekend workshop ‘the Art & science of empathy’
Norwegian Wood, Hollicombe Lane,
Start a healthier lifestyle Preston, Paignton TQ3 2DT 01803 528575 with the perfect break
www.organicbedandbreakfast.info
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AFTER refining his skills in rehabilitation work for 12 years, Andy Morey, right, is confident he can get results even when other methods have failed. Andy uses the Bowen Technique, a remedial soft tissue manipulation therapy that is extremely gentle but also very effective at resolving muscular and joint related problems. And, because he uses the treatment in conjunction with advanced assessment techniques and rehabilitative exercise programmes, he ensures problems are less likely to return. Sports clubs in the Newton Abbot area, where he is based, refer injured athletes to him – a relationship that has developed out of his excellent track record at resolving problems effectively and quickly. Andy also runs a Fitball Core Stability class at the Winners2000 Newton Abbot gym, and a Yoga & Fitball class at the Newton Abbot Leisure Centre, which clients find beneficial to their rehabilitation. “I am happy to discuss individual needs by phone or email, with no obligation to continue further,” says Andy. “No matter how long you have had your aches and pains, I am happy to advise you of the best way forward.” Andy is currently offering a 10% discount when you book a series of three Bowen treatments. Visit his website at www.supplements4wellbeing.co.uk, or Andy in person at Nature’s Bounty healthfood shop in Newton Abbot. Call 07739 171014, email lightsided@hotmail.com.
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uk@psychophonetics.com - Tel 07920 100794 www.psychophonetics.co.uk
local people local events local food local health local environment Working on how we sit for working
The Arcturus Centre in Totnes
Centre’s cancer help clinic THE Arcturus Clinic, established in Totnes for 15 years, is now a community interest company. The clinic will continue to run as a complementary health clinic and now also offers an outreach service, a health without wealth fund and the new Totnes cancer help centre. Said the centre’s Dr Stephen Hopwood: “We need to look at what is actually causing cancer and how we can go about putting measures in place to prevent and protect ourselves.” The clinic has three medical doctors, four nurses and a physiotherapist, and a full range of complementary therapists, including an osteopath, homeopath, consultant nutritionalist, acupuncturists and herbalists. From the New Year, the centre will run weekend retreats for cancer sufferers and offer support with diet, nutrition, alkalising, detoxifying and immune system strengthening. Clinic staff will offer colonic irrigation, live blood analysis and a full detox/elimination programme, along with emotional, practical and comprehensive alternative medical advice. Said Stephen: “With the multinational pharmaceutical industry making billions from treating cancer, and yet no real alternative therapies offered by the NHS, the time has come for a substantial response from the complementary medical community.” The clinic is building a comprehensive website detailing health advice and is looking for support from volunteer admin and reception staff. “Conventional western medicine treats disease mostly by suppressing symptoms with pharmaceutical drugs which can be toxic and cause side effects,” says Stephen. “These chemical prescriptions do little or nothing to support our body’s own capacity to heal itself and can create dependency and undermine immunity. Call 01803 868282 or visit www.arcturusclinic.co.uk.
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POOR posture in front of the computer is a common cause of lower back pain. The problem is (and I admit this is only my experience – you might maintain excellent posture at all times), I start off with good intentions, sitting as I know I should. But the next time I’m aware of my posture, I’m slumped across the keyboard… “We lose sight of self in pursuit of the endgame,” says Michael Brown, who helps prevent back and neck pain and RSI using an approach based on Alexander Technique, alongside setting up individual workstations for optimum comfort, performance and productivity. He says: “I encourage people to stop, become aware of their posture, breathe and then adopt basic postural principles. I also encourage them to move – just a stretch, maybe, or a short walk. Humans are designed to move, not for sitting on our arses all day!” Michael works oneto-one and also runs seminars, including one for businesses. “RSI and back pain absenteeism is costing businesses a fortune,” says Michael. “We just need to take a moment to listen to our breath, get in touch with what our body is telling us and act accordingly.” Call 01364 654398 or 07775 528876, or visit www.michaelhbrown. co.uk.
Bowen Technique
A gentle treatment, particularly effective for neck and shoulder injuries
Andy Morey
Newton Abbot area 0773 917 1014 lightsided@hotmail.com www.supplements4wellbeing.co.uk
AtlasPROfilax NEW AMAZING SELF-EMPOWERING REALIGNMENT Did you know that the Atlas bone is misaligned in most humans? What if you could get rid of
BACK, NECK, KNEES or HIPS PAIN, WHIPLASH, MIGRAINES, DIZINESS, TRAPPED NERVES, DIFFERENCE in LEG LENGTH, FROZEN SHOULDERS, etc… A strategic and non-chiropractic massage is applied to the short musculature of the neck in only one application, safely and permanently Marie-Agnès Casalini
07828 954 304 (01342) 303279 marie.atlas@yahoo.co.uk For more testimonials, see: www.marieatlas.co.uk Regularly in Totnes at Arcturus Clinic
FEEL YOUR BEST AT THE DESK and improve your posture at the computer
I provide a highly effective Alexander Techniquebased approach for preventing back & neck pain and RSI combined with expert advice on setting up your workstation to suit your individual needs. For home or business contact: MicHAEL BROwn on 01364 654398 or 07775 528876 or email info@michaelhbrown.co.uk www.michaelhbrown.co.uk
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment
Anna’s inspirational visit
Hélène Demetriades
Experienced Transpersonal Psychotherapist & Counsellor MBACP SNR Accred. Metamorphic Technique Practitioner Counselling & Psychotherapy I help you to move through patterns of self-rejection to come home to yourself.
“Hélène works with infinite compassion and patience, listening on levels which I could never begin to imagine myself. She becomes the most magical mirror in which I can see myself more clearly” Metamorphic Technique A simple practice in which I use a light touch on the sides of your feet, hands and head, acting as a catalyst to your life-force.
“The philosophy of the Metamorphic Technique of bringing about one’s potential in life has manifested itself in mine in a profound way within the last year.” Location: Dartington www.helenedemetriades.co.uk Tel: 01803 868 655
Come and meet Rachel to find out how you and your dogs well being are linked
THE beauty of South Devon and its thriving progressive community inspired visitor Anna Gatmon, pictured right, and sparked a weekend workshop of spiritual guidance. Live a Spiritually Guided Life is a workshop for women, at Schumacher College from November 4-6, run by Anna with contributions from personal coach Rosalind Turner. Said Anna: “I participated in a workshop in nature with Satish Kumar last year and fell in love with the natural beauty of Devon. Inspired by the thriving progressive community I encountered, I brought my family to visit Devon and am now returning to teach this Autumn.” Bristol-based Rosalind also runs Walking to Meet Ourselves, using walks in nature to help people expand their perspective on life situations. Anna, a former fashion model, was born and raised in Israel and has lived extensively in Sweden, France and the USA. She speaks English, French, Hebrew and Swedish. She now teaches spiritual guidance through her practice called Towards Wholeness, which encourages a strong connection with spirit and nature. After finding her inspiration at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, Anna went into personal practice.
She said: “After a few years of deepening my connection with Spirit, and experiencing the power of inner guidance in my life, I developed a method that would allow others to experience spiritual guidance in their lives. I decided to use my Doctoral thesis to study and develop this method, which I named “Education Towards Wholeness” and decided to dedicate my life to sharing this knowledge with others, which is how Towards Wholeness came about.” Contact Anna at: contact@ towardswholeness.com www.towardswholeness.com
Time to book into Torquay health show A HEALTH show at Torquay's Riviera Centre on January 14 will include a variety of health, beauty and fitness stalls featuring chiropractors, beauty consultants, therapists, dentists and personal trainers. There will also be talks held throughout the day on weight loss, nutrition, quitting smoking, IBS and many other topics. Ex-Strictly champion Camilla Dallerup
will be leading a talk on NLP and running a dancercise class and organiser Timm Barrs has also been successful in booking Davina McCall's personal trainers, Mark and Jackie Wren, who will lead an exercise class and a talk on fitness. James Crossley, Hunter from TV’s Gladiators, is also leading a class and seminar. To book a stall, visit www. southdevonhealthshow.co.uk
Revolutionary approach to hypnotherapy
Your relationship with your dog is very special and interlinked. Your dog’s health and behavior can be affected by your own state of balance and wellbeing. I have years of experience healing dogs and their owners. Please contact me if you are concerned about your general well being and if your dog is not its usual self as I can help you both. Contact Rachel Bolton MPCHM MAcS ITEC Tel: 01364 653 788 Mob: 07957 597 618 e mail: rachel.bolton@angeldog.co.uk
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THE British HynotherapyAromocology Institute now has a clinic at Arcturus in Totnes. Born in the UK and trained in the US, Philip Winston, right, practised for 15 years in New York and California, and is now back here with his “revolutionary approach to hypnotherapy”. It was during research at the Aromatherapy Research Institute in La Jolla, California, that Philip worked on the relationship between mind, body and the sense of smell and developed hypnotherapyaromacology. Says Philip: “The sense of smell links directly with the brain so past and present associations,
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and our moods, can be swiftly accessed by certain aromas. Each of their individual, complex molecular structures acts like a key to unlock access to our deeper, and often secret, self. “By using these ‘aroma keys’, along with beneficial hypnotic suggestions, one can connect to certain times, places, moods and memories and
work on physical and emotional problems like weight loss, smoking, depression, insomnia, pain and anxiety.” And the effect can continue outside of the session. “The client is given a unique individual blend of essential oils targeted to their specific needs,” says Philip. “This reinforces and continues the positive therapeutic experience beyond the actual session itself and can be used by the client at any time at will as the need occurs between sessions.” Philip runs a clinic in Totnes. Call 07580 243 705, or email bhai. devon@gmail.com.
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Emma Gilmore, left, teaching at The School of Bodywork
School opens new centre THE School of Bodywork, run by Emma Gilmore and based at the Exeter Natural Health Centre in Queen’s Walk, is expanding and has now opened a second centre in Bristol. Emma says all its massage diplomas, including complete bodyworker, remedial, sports injury, Indian head, seated acupressure, myofascial release and hands free techniques, will also be offered at a new location within Bristol City Yoga, one of the Westcountry’s leading yoga institutions. “We aim to equip our students with the clinical knowledge and the hands-on
skills necessary to set up their own successful practice with confidence,” says Emma. “Our graduates work with individuals from all walks of life. The power of touch, combined with the empowerment given to clients through an increased awareness of their body and mind, creates tangible results in the client as well as immense job satisfaction for the practitioner.” Further course details, including dates and prices, are available at www. schoolofbodywork.com or call 07711 656011.
Combining Shamanism and psychology IF you have an interest in psychological or emotional and spiritual development, you will find a Journey through the Year with Louise Page, right, an enlightening experience. On eight days during the year Louise runs a Journeying course combining the techniques of ancient Shamanism and modern psychology to connect with the natural cycle of the year. She also offers individual journeying sessions as part of her private practice based in Thorverton, near Exeter. Said Louise: “The intention of these days is to travel through the year together creating a deeper sense of connection – with nature, sacred space, our inner and outer-landscapes, the Shamanic upper and lower worlds and each other. “This connection can give a stronger sense of individual growth and development and a sense of place in the world. Working in a group can
bring an experience of shared peace and unity.” Each journeying day has two or three inner-journeys led by Louise and combining knowledge of shamanism and transpersonal psychology. There is also creative time. The course is held at the Friends Meeting House in Pavilion Place, Exeter on October 15, December 17, February 4, March 31, April 28, June 30, August 11 and September 29 between 10am and 4.30pm. Louise is also running a course called Path of the Moon, which provides a chance to reflect on yourself in relation to the phases of the moon and to experience the effect of the moon in the astrological signs and houses. “It aims to help you live with the flow of life and natural cycles rather than struggling against the tide,” said Louise. Call 01392 860509 email: louise.page@campion.f2s.com.
Inner Depth offers full range of classes A MERGER of two local organisations has produced a unique range of Totnes classes to help people find their own hidden depths while becoming fitter, healthier and happier. Health and fitness provider Elementalife has combined with the Chinese Wu Hsing Association under a new banner, Inner Depth. Chief instructor Steve Cockburn said: “Our classes can now provide anyone
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with the opportunity to bring something really positive into their lives and make long lasting changes on physical, emotional or spiritual levels.” Classes range from Tai Chi (including sessions for the elderly) and Kung Fu (including Dragons classes for children) to BodyStretch yoga-based exercise and even tap dance for adults. Find out more at www.inner-depth.com or call 01803 864950.
THERAPY Journey of Spirit AN INTRODUCTION TO SHAMANIC PRACTICE A one-day introductory workshop in which we explore the ancient methods of Shamanic practice to reawaken our own inner guidance and experience the wisdom of our deep interconnection with Earth and all beings. Saturday November 12 - 10am to 6pm Clennon Croft Farm, Blagdon, Paignton. Contact Debbie Wander for details. Limit of 10 places - closing date Nov 1st. DEBBIE WANDER MA UKCP Psychotherapist • Supervisor • MA Trainer Shamanic Practitioner and Teacher
Call 01803 555155
email debbiewander@hotmail.com
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment
Extra courses by demand FEW would question that counselling is a worthwhile and meaningful profession – but a South Devon training college says it’s a career open to more people than you might think. Says Leigh Smith, director of The Heartwood Centre in Dartington: “Counselling as a vocation appeals to many people both young and old, regardless of academic ability, and is one of the few professions actually more suited to people who have undergone their own challenges in life because that builds empathy and increases understanding. “All you need is to be a good listener and have an open mind.” The Heartwood Centre is currently celebrating an overwhelming response to this year’s training programme. Leigh said: “We have had a fantastic response to our advertisements in Reconnect - so much so, we have included an extra Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling because the first one booked up immediately, and we are also considering running an evening diploma course. “This is a very exciting time for us, especially after receiving such an outstanding report from our last awarding body inspection.” Heartwood delivers a full programme of courses, from the very beginning right through to training in supervision, and all fully accredited with the CPCAB (Britain’s leading
specialist awarding body) and taught at their beautiful centre on the Dartington Hall Estate. This year sees the launch of the new Level 6 Diploma in Counselling Supervision, aimed at Counsellors and Psychotherapists who want to take the next step in their professional progression. Tutor Mark Hartshorn said: “I am very excited to be teaching this Supervision Diploma because the training is very creative and experiential with a strong focus on the practical aspects of supervision. “There is a real shortage of qualified professional supervisors in the area and we aim to fill that gap.” Bookings are still being taken - call 01803 865464, or visit www. heartwoodcounselling.org.
Tutor Mark Hartshorn
Open day in aid of cancer victim lifeline
A unique workshop that will bring Spirit into your daily life with
Anna Gatmon, Ph.D. (candidate), founder of Towards Wholeness
A SOUTH West charity is providing a lifeline service for local people affected by cancer. The beautiful surroundings of Sharpham House are an ideal location for three-day residential breaks funded by Cancer Lifeline South West. The breaks give people a chance to get away from the 21st century hubbub and find time to re-tune. To help with fundraising, the Waterloo Wellbeing Centre in Devonport Road, Plymouth, is staging an official opening celebration on November 12
with contributions from
Come and celebrate our official open day
Rosalind J.Turner of Walking to Meet Ourselves
Live a Spiritually Guided Life A weekend workshop for women, Nov. 4th – 6th, 2011 To find out more, contact us: Anna: contact@towardswholeness.com www.towardswholeness.com
when proceeds from a draw and stalls will go to the charity. Throughout the day, visitors will be able to buy home-made produce and local crafts and there will also be a chance to learn about the work of the centre – now the home of a counselling and psychotherapy practice. Taster sessions will be available for a small donation and a small entrance fee of £2 will be charged in exchange for a raffle ticket. Call 01752 318595 www. psychotherapyplymouth.co.uk.
Taster sessions available Purchase local craft and homemade produce. Learn the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.
AllOn proceeds to Cancer Lifeline West – 4pm Saturday Nov 12thSouth - 10am all proceeds to Cancer Lifeline South West
Rosalind: 0117 3309024 www.walkingtomeetourselves.co.uk
The Waterloo Wellbeing Centre 191 Devonport Road, Stoke, Plymouth PL1 5RN Tel: 01752 318595 www.psychotherapyplymouth.co.uk
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www.reconnectonline.co.uk
local people local events local food local health local environment Time to take deep breath MOST of us have got into the habit of breathing far too shallow for our own good – over the years RIQTAwe have literally held RIQTA FOR PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING TRAINING COURSES & FOR PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING TRAINING COURSES & our breath when Also Retreats abroad and regular workshops – TORQUAY. regular workshops – TORQUAY. Also Retreats abroad and Pilgrimages to the with Holy Land. (open to all) Pilgrimages to the Holy Land. (open to all) faced fear and Accredited and Approved and as a skills & Concepts – part time – For Professional, Level 2 anxiety – introduction to counselling Level 2 – introduction to counselling skills & Concepts – part time – 10 weeksresult – commencing May 2011 COUNSELLING10TRAINING COURSES weeks – commencing May 2011 & regular workshops – we use just 15of our breathing Level 3 20% – Certificate in Counselling Skills – part time – 10 months – TORQUAY & PAIGNTON TRAINING VENUES Level 3 – Certificate in Counselling Skills – part time – 10 months – RIQTA commencing July 2011 capacity. commencing July 2011 Nicky Bell, left, and Suzannah Uren FOR PROFESSIONAL TRAININGskills COURSES& Concepts & Level 2 – introduction toCOUNSELLING counselling Certificate in CBT – 10 months part time. – commencing May 2011 regular workshops – TORQUAY. Also Retreats abroad and Transformational Certificate in CBT – 10 months part time.in– commencing May 2011 part time – 10 weeks Pilgrimages to the Holycommencing Land. (open to all) September is a and practice of Counselling – part Level 4 Breathing Diploma in The theory Paignton and Torquay Level2 4– Diploma in The theory andskills practice of Counselling – part time 21 months – commencing June 2011 Level introduction to counselling & Concepts – part time – technique that time 21 months – commencing 10 weeks – commencing May 2011June 2011 Level 3 – Certificate in Counselling Skills ARE you aware of inner voices that influence how Specialistredresses Diploma in Counselling Children & Young people – 12 the balance, Children &time Young Specialist in Counselling CounsellingSkills months part time. – commencing September 2011 Level 3 – Certificate in – part – 10people months –12 part time – 10 months –Diploma commencing October Torquay & –Paignton you experience life and how you behave? oxygenating our months partJuly time. – commencing September 2011 commencing 2011 For further information on these courses, or any of our workshops, While some of these voices champion us, others contact:body to make us feel DiplomaCertificate in further Cognitive (May CBT) For on these or any of our workshops, in information CBT – 10Behaviour months partcourses, time.Therapy – commencing 2011 more energized and try to keep us small because they want to protect Info.riqta@btconnect.com contact: – www.riqta.co.uk – 01803 315075 part time. – commencing September -Torquay Level 4 Diploma in The theory and practice of Counselling – part boosting our immune Info.riqta@btconnect.com – www.riqta.co.uk – 01803 315075 us, and still others can be punishing of others or time 21 months – commencing June 2011 Holy Land Pilgrimage October 2011 and February 2012 system and– working Level 4 Diploma in The theory and practice of Counselling ourselves… NEW! We can now offer a 10 day safe pilgrimage to the HOLY Holy Land Pilgrimage – October 2011 and February 2012 Diploma in Counselling Children & Young people – 12 level part time 21Specialist months – commencing September LAND –on this a canvibrational be for your personal and/or professional NEW! We can now offer a 10 day safe pilgrimage to -theTorquay HOLY Two local counsellors, Suzannah Uren and Nicky development, for those who have religious beliefs, and for those who months part time. – commencing September 2011 LAND – this can be for your personal and/or professional to clear emotional learning Bell, believe these voices often originate in our wish to tour Israel as part of a safe group, sightseeing andSpecialist Diploma in Counselling Children & Young people development, for those who have religious beliefs, and for those who For further information on these courses, or any of our workshops, blockages. history with wonderful architecture - with a full itinery and tour wish time. to tour Israel as part of a safe group, sightseeing and learning childhoods with the intention of serving and contact: 12 months part – commencing September - Torquay guide – It is an all inclusive package – for further details contact history with wonderful architecture - with –a 01803 full itinery and tour Therapist Les Info.riqta@btconnect.com – www.riqta.co.uk 315075 protecting us. 01803 315075 or info.riqta@btconnect.com guide – It is an all inclusive package – for further details contact Diploma in Hypnotherapy Elms is holding a 01803 315075 or info.riqta@btconnect.com Holy Land Pilgrimage – October 2011 and February 2012 Says Suzannah: “As adults, it’s good to have the commencing - Torquay Transformational NEW! We can now September offer a 10 day safe pilgrimage to the HOLY choice to behave differently and by parenting these LAND – this can be for your personal and/or professional Breath introductory outdated voices we can develop more mature and For further information on these courses, development, for those who have religious beliefs, and for those who talk on October 3 to tour Israel as part of a safe group, sightseeing and learning wholesome ways of meeting life. orwish any ofwonderful our workshops, contact: history with architecture with a full itinery and tour (6.30-7.30pm, cost guideInfo.riqta@btconnect.com – It is an all inclusive package – for further details contact “For example, in conflict we often blame others £10) and a three01803 315075 or info.riqta@btconnect.com www.riqta.co.uk – 01803 315075 when we feel hurt. Self-parenting the blaming voice hour introductory THE COURSES ARE CONTINUALLY OFFERED, enables us to take responsibility for the hurt places workshop on October PLEASE CONTACT US FOR THE NEXT AVAILABLE COURSE. within us.” 22 (2-5pm, cost £30. RIQTA LOW COST COUNSELLING AGENY (RLCCA) OFFERS Suzannah has worked as a counsellor in Dartington, Both will be held at LOW COST COUNSELLING TO THE PUBLIC – PLEASE ENQUIRE. near Totnes, for 18 years. She also works as a the Exeter Body and shamanic healer. Nicky has a counselling practice in Mind Clinic in Chapel the Torbay area and is passionate about supporting Street, Exeter. women through grief and transition and works Call Les on 07828 closely with The Green Funeral Company. 566553 or email Together they run Self-Parenting workshops that les@breathsouthwest. ‘When we offer women a daily embodied practice to support com. have inner them. peace we can Says Nicky: “These young voices need to be heard, be at peace seen and loved, which is what all children need. The pay-off in our daily lives is peaceful presence with those and the power of feeling self-responsible.” around us’ To enable women to develop this practice, Dalai Lama Suzannah and Nicky run a series of workshops with follow-ups, which can be repeated at any time, and participants are encouraged to meet in their groups and to support each other. Their next workshop is October 1 and 2 and then monthly for six months, excluding December, so get Sessions and courses available: in touch for details. Call 0753 6005 857 or 0785 9832 860. • Core ProCeSS PSyChotheraPy Les Elms
RIQTA
Parenting your inner voices
waterloo wellbeing Centre
Mindfulness based Counselling and Psychotherapy in Plymouth
• Cognitive Behavioural theraPy
SELF-PARENTING WORKSHOP Suzannah Uren & Nicky Bell Offering women a daily embodied practice to support them through emotional and behavioural patterning.
• CouPleS CounSelling • Family and SyStemiC theraPy • CliniCal SuPerviSion • taSter dayS and CourSeS in mindFulneSS • CounSelling training and CPd • aCuPunCture now availaBle
new ProFeSSional CounSelling training Starting Jan 2012 (in association with the Karuna Institute)
£50 per day
two year diploma in mindfulness based therapeutic Counselling levels 4 and 5
Suzannah 07536005857 or Nicky 07859832860
01752 318595 • www.psychotherapyplymouth.co.uk 191 Devonport Road, Stoke, Plymouth PL1 5RN
Monthly weekend workshops For more information and to book a place call
www.reconnectonline.co.uk
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
31
local people local events local food local health local environment Tackle serious physical and emotional issues
• EFT & Matrix Re-imprinting releases emotional blocks • Gentle tapping on acupuncture points on face and hands • You can also learn the technique to use in everyday life
Di Greenland
Complementary Medical Association member (also Journey Therapist, PSYCH-K Practitioner & Health Creation Mentor) 01392 669606 digreenland@blueyonder.co.uk
THAI YOGA MASSAGE
by a qualified + insured practitioner Contact Frida on 07974 880462 Totnes: on donation (min £20 - 1 hr / £30 - 1.5 hrs) Exeter: Massage & Wellbeing Centre: £30 - 1hr www.ananda-massage.net “I just wanted to say that having had some Thai Massage from some very talented Thai masseurs in Thailand, I still think you are better!” Chloe Uden, Regens SW.
“This style of massage assists in releasing fixed holding patterns & tension, and works particularly well alongside a regular Yoga practice.” Justin Dalton, Yoga teacher
Core Process Psychotherapy An approach that draws on modern Western Psychotherapeutic understanding and the wisdom and compassion of Buddhist psychology Mark Craig MA
Kay Luck MA
Colin Sutton MA
01803 865672
01566 880206 07875 955250
07811 285875 01392 758107
Totnes
Exeter & Launceton
Exeter & Plymouth
Registered Psychotherapists
Herbal tinctures from Frances ALTHOUGH recent EU regulation changes mean you can no longer call in at a local healthfood store and buy Green Lane Herbs tinctures, Frances Wright, who prepares the tinctures, can still sell them legally because she is a herbal practitioner. She said: “I can provide them after a full consultation, taking an hour, in which a detailed client case history is taken, including blood pressure and urine analysis if necessary. “A tailor-made prescription, to treat the root cause of the symptoms is made up, and progress monitored over time. “Alternatively, I can give a mini consultation to check health and any other medication, and provide an ‘off the shelf’ formula to relieve symptoms.” Frances’s Althaea Herbal Healing Garden also provides day placements for mental health service users through an initiative called Thyme to Heal. “We provide a friendly, unstructured environment, where participants can work at their own pace or take time out in a peaceful environment, on their own or with others,” says Frances. “We offer participation in the year-
Di calls on a full range of treatments IT’S not unusual for a practitioner to use more than one therapy and Di Greenland is able to call on a rich and varied toolbox of treatments when treating her clients. Di, a member of the Complementary Medical Association, has been working as an energy therapist for nine years and is qualified in Journey therapy, Matrix Re-Imprinting using EFT, and PSYCH-K (psychological kiniesiology). She is also a Health Creation Mentor. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) helps people to tackle serious physical and emotional issues by tapping on the acupuncture points on the face and hands to release blocked energy. Clients also learn the technique themselves, allowing them to take responsibility for their own wellbeing. Says Di: “I often take this work deeper
THERAPY ROOMS TO RENT IN BUDLEIGH SALTERTON
“bringing you organic beauty from the sea” To rent space here in our beautiful SPA contact us on 01395 446580 or email jayne.ot@jottys.com
Katheryn Trenshaw
“Katheryn’s work is powerful, effective, illuminating and has freed the way I approach my work and my life.” Donna, USA
Are you ready for real freedom? Dare you step into your deep connected power and really be here now? Are you ready to open your heart and love? There is nothing to change. It is not about self-improvement. It is simple.
The VOYA Spa at Jotty’s Emporium 43 - 43A High Street | Budleigh Salterton | Devon | EX9 6LE Telephone 01395 446580 | www.jottysspa.com
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2011 events with
Rent space in our luxury health SPA in the beautiful coastal town of Budleigh Salterton ● Be part of a team of professional therapists working in a tranquil environment at The VOYA Spa at Jotty’s
by incorporating Matrix re Imprinting to re imprint a long standing, negative memory with a positive one.” PSYCH-K allows Di to help clients discover and release counter productive beliefs by using a simple arm muscle testing technique. Health Creation Mentoring is a holistic way of determining which areas of a client’s life would benefit from changes to rebuild your health, regain your energy and peace of mind. And Journey Therapy is “a gentle but profound way to reach negative memories stored in cells.” Says Di: “My work is rich in opportunities to free you of illness or the issues that are holding you back from achieving what you really desire.” Call 01392 669606, or email digreenland@blueyonder.co.uk.
Passionate Presence
JOTTY’S
● Rent space for half-day or full days
round growing cycle and a chance to try skills like scything, milking and cheese making, herbal medicines and crafts like mosaic and felting.” The days also include wholesome food from the garden for lunch, and to take home, and bursaries are available for some places, funded by Ecominds. Call 0772 0440 866 or email greenlaneherbs.frances@virgin.net.
Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk
Upcoming: Oct 14 - 16 (Canterbury) • Oct 3 - 4 (London) • Nov 12-13 (London) Nov 25 - 27 (Devon) • Jan 20-24 residential retreat Devon
01803 863552 • info@ktrenshaw.com www.ktrenshaw.com www.reconnectonline.co.uk
local people local events local food local health local environment ART COURSE
COUNSELLING
Over 32 years’ experience
INSIDER ART
We are running the following courses in Exeter in 2011 ART IN MENTAL HEALTH: A Foundation Course in Art Therapy VISUAL ARTS FOR HEALTH AND COMMUNITY PRACTICE Short courses in Sandtray Therapy, Dance Movement Therapy, Creative Writing and Narrative & Story Making Approaches For information visit www.insiderart.org.uk or e-mail info@insiderart.org.uk
- offers confidential therapeutic counselling for individuals and couples. www.caseconfidential.com
PAT HOARE. DIP. COUNS. B.A.C.P. ACCREDITED COUNSELLOR AND SUPERVISOR Email: pat@pathoare.eclipse.co.uk
HEALTH CENTRES
JUNE & JULY FEATURE First full treatment at half price with this advert with Deborah Penprase MAR, IIR Reflexologist
THERAPY ROOMS TO RENT Dedicated professional practitioners welcome. Serviced rooms at competitive rates.
Fore Street, Totnes
Tel: 07779 263 724
COMPLIMENTARY THERAPY & HEALTH CENTRE OLA Chiropractic - Reflexology Reiki Healing - Aromatherapy Acupressure - Shamanic Work Deep Tissue Massage - Sports Injuries Pilates - Body Stress Release Call to book a Consultation & Treatment
www.chiron-centre.com
hypnotherapy
The British Institute of Hypnotherapy - Aromacology Get your life back on track. Breakthrough advance from USA. Philip Winston, US trained British Hypnotherapist-Aromacologist. 15 years’ experience. Get fast and lasting results: Weight Loss, Stop Smoking, Depression, Insomnia, Phobias, Pain, Self-confidence, Anxiety, Stress, Enhanced Performance in Sports, Academics, Work and Relationships Free 20 minute consultation. Call for appointment. Clinic in Totnes. 07580243705 bhai.devon@gmail.com JOURNEYING
Group facilitator, Louise Hay Trainer, Inner-Child work Family/Sex Therapy. Critical Incident Debriefing. G.H.R. Accredited Hypnotherapist. Analytical Therapy for phobias, emotional difficulties, stress etc. Suggestion Therapy to stop smoking, for weight control, nail biting, confidence, study, driving tests etc. Free 20-minute consultation: Telephone 01392 410090 for appointments. 24a Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS CLASSIFIED advertisements in Reconnect cost as little as £18. Simply email us your entry, with your chosen heading, name and address and phone number. We will invoice you at just 90p a word, with a minimum of 20 words. Email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk. COACHING
BREAKTHROUGH COACHING with Carmella B’Hahn (author - Benjaya’s Gifts/Mourning Has Broken). Bowden House, Totnes. Transform through adversity. www.solacealchemy.com 01803 867005 carmella@solacealchemy.com COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION BLITZ sessions with Carmella B’Hahn, Bowden House, Totnes. Transform patterns, learn conscious communication. Four sessions £100. 01803 867005 carmella@solacealchemy.com COLONICS
HEARTWOOD HOME COLONICS – safe, cheap DIY inner cleansing at Bowden House, Totnes or home hire. Brochure: carmella@ solacealchemy.com 01803 867005 CREATIVE WRITING
‘FIRE IN THE HEAD’ autumn writing courses with soul near Totnes: creative writing; poetry and Zen; writing the land; mindfulness. 01548 821004 www.fire-in-the-head.co.uk’ HEALING
SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES WANTED Have you had a spiritual experience you would like to share? I am collating people’s spiritual experiences for a book - identities will be protected - if you want to share it with others please email your experiences to: spiritmessages@hotmail.co.uk HEALING
JOURNEYING
A Journey Round the Year 2011-2012 The Bridge between Shamanism and Therapy
A series of journeying days following the natural cycle of the year. This course gives you a gentle space, time and powerful techniques to access your connection with the earth and with yourself, allowing you to deepen your sense of strength, purpose, grounding and direction. From 10 am to 4.30 pm at the Friends Meeting House, Pavilion Place, Exeter Saturdays 15 Oct, 17 Dec, 4 Feb, 31 March, 28 April, 30 June, 11 Aug, 29 Sept Cost: £50 per day, £40 per day if two or more days are booked together
To book your place please contact Louise Page, Campion Cottage, Jericho Street, Thorverton, Exeter EX5 5PA Tel: 01392 860509 E-mail: louise.page@campion.f2s.com
www.reconnectonline.co.uk
‘HEALING THROUGH THE POWER OF LOVE’. Healing course to develop/deepen your healing potential. Begins October, Harbour House, Kingsbridge. Contact Helen 01548 854028. PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT
THREE-PART workshop in Totnes, on Saturdays November 19, January 21 and March 17, with Sarah Sidoli. Discover your hidden talents and have fun. £30 per day. 01364 643033, sidoli2connect@yahoo.co.uk PSYCHOTHERAPY
EXPERIENCED and qualified psychotherapist welcomes individuals and couples for confidential sessions in Harberton near Totnes. Lucia Capaldi BA (hons) UKCP. For an initial free meeting call 01803 840424 mob: 07809 441 519. www. luciacapaldi-psychotherapy-devon.co.uk.
Editorial: 01392 346204 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk
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local people local events local food local health local environment
Living on less...
Spend less money, spend more time... ELSEWHERE in this issue you’ll see we’re focussing on funerals, so with a nod towards my early journalistic training, which inevitably involved births, death and marriages (or hatch, match and dispatch, as they were known), I thought we’d look at a couple of life’s other major events – births and marriages. A recent survey estimated the current cost of raising a child until they are 21 to be £210,000. Admittedly the survey was conducted and used in PR by an insurance and pensions company (LV), who probably stand to benefit if we’re all worried sick about our financial security, but there’s no doubt that children can be very expensive animals to have around. But do they have to be? If you ever visit car boot sales, you’ll know they illustrate two interesting points on this matter: 1, that stall after stall is piled high with baby and toddler paraphernalia, most of it barely used and in perfect condition, and that will have cost the parents thousands of pounds and; 2, that if you buy secondhand from them, your own kiddy costs will be reduced dramatically. But for some people there is still a stigma attached to buying secondhand for young children. It really can’t be for practical concerns over cleanliness because all baby and toddler products are designed to withstand an onslaught of puke, pee and poo, so they can all be thoroughly washed and cleaned. Odd, isn’t it? Most of society has finally come to terms with the concept of babies being born outside of marriage, or even out side of any relationship at all; and in most company you can
SURVEYS tell us it costs £210,000 to raise a child and that the average wedding costs £21,000 - and did you know 38% of statistics are just made up? MARTIN FOSTER looks at the true cost of living...
Play it again, Sam safely admit your child’s not christened or baptised without people reaching for a crucifix for protection. And yet it is still seen as outrageous by some that you might not want to spend thousands of pounds buying stuff that will be outgrown and redundant within a few years, months or even weeks. Still more confirmation, perhaps, that shopping is the new religion. But if you need a new cause or mission in your life, let it be green. Re-use, recycle, reconnect with what’s REALLY important – and source children’s clothes, equipment and toys from jumble sales (increasingly rare, admittedly), charity shops, car boot sales, on Freecycle and, of course, ask friends and family, who will probably have heaps of the stuff up in their lofts. Having brought up five kids on a
your local solution-focused hypnotherapist Michael Sanders
very unreliable income, I know it is possible - and actually a lot more fun and rewarding than trawling around brightly lit, logo-encrusted shopping centres. Please don’t sacrifice your child on the high alter of consumerism! The expense continues through childhood and adolescence, of course. And again I would urge parents to buy secondhand. It can be timeconsuming (although if you need less money, you might not need to work so much…), but you can take the kids with you (they love it) and you can even find big brands if they really want them. Although another recent survey (this time from Unicef, whose motives are a touch more altruistic) says that while kids might SAY they want the big brands and the latest gadgets, they actually feel “trapped in a materialistic culture” and what they really want is to spend more time with their families. (Find out more at www.unicef.org.uk). So spend less money on stuff and spend more time with people – it could be the Living On Less mantra. Spend enough time with the right person and you might get to the point where you’re considering getting married – when you can afford it. Around 75% of people living together say they’d like to get married and a big reason for not, is the expense – because the average UK wedding costs around £20,000! Maybe, as Jonathan suggests in the case of funerals, we should just step back and ask ourselves what we really want a wedding to do. It’s a ceremony
Take a deep breaTh...
practices in Plymouth and Exeter
01822 834799
www.hypnotherapist-plymouth.com
Your past can't be changed. Your future can! Registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council
to mark the joining of two people and like all ceremonies, we might want to add a little costume, music and feasting. But none of that has to cost big money. My wedding was very much a family, and neighbourhood affair. We drove to the register office in our own minibus, decorated by our children (‘Almost married’ sign on the way there), we added a few new garments to our usual jumble/charity shop wardrobes, and the reception was held in our own garden, with the hedges decorated with paper flowers by our neighbours and wonderful homemade food supplied by guests who all brought a dish. Result: a wonderful day in which everyone felt involved. And no-one went home broke. I realise people want different things from their wedding, but I’m just suggesting that creativity and goodwill are more important than credit cards and superstore gift lists. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out www.hundredpoundwedding.com, which was put together by Rev David Newton, who said on Radio 4 that he could organise a wedding for £100 – and then put his website where his mouth was. Or check out good old Martin Lewis at www.moneysavingexpert.com, if you can handle the (cut-price but still hard-sell) commercial messages. Or Google ‘green wedding’ and browse for a while. And, as always, I’d love to hear from you – Reconnect should be on Facebook by the time you read this, or email me at editor@reconnectonline.co.uk. Cheers, m‘dears.
Learn how to use the power of your own breath to overcome stress and re-energise your body. Improve your health and help clear emotional blockages. Based in S Devon but offering workshops and 1:1 sessions throughout S W England
Transformational breathing Les Elms • les@breathsouthwest.com www.breathsouthwest.com
07828 566553 34
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local people local events local food local health local environment
WORKSHOPS AND COURSES DIARY OCTOBER
HEALING THROUGH THE POWER OF LOVE. Healing course to develop/deepen your healing potential. Begins October, Harbour House, Kingsbridge. Contact Helen 01548 854028. EVERY TUESDAY
QIGONG at The Exeter Mint Methodist Church with Brad Richecoeur, 5.30-7pm. Suitable for all levels. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest. co.uk . QIGONG - weekly classes in Totnes. Tuesdays 5.30 - 7pm with Daverick Leggett. 0845 4561852 Daverick@qigong-southwest.co.uk. EVERY FRIDAY
QIGONG at St Johns Church Hall, Totnes with Brad Richecoeur, 10-11.30am. Suitable for all levels. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest. co.uk SATURDAY 1
REFLEXOLOGY workshop, 10am-4pm £40 per person. From 10am-4pm £40 per person. For more information or to book your place: call Ali at the Barbican Therapy Centre, Plymouth on 01752 266002. THURSDAY 6
MEDITATION & Buddhism with Vidyadasi, Exeter Natural Health Centre, 7.30pm, sevenweek course every Thursday covering two meditation practices and key Buddhist concepts. £70/£55/£35concs. Email: meditation. vidyadasi@gmail.com to book.
TUESDAY 11
A LITTLE Patch of Ground. Performances/ exhibition of Encounters Arts’ pioneering intergenerational, community permaculture and performance project. Totnes Civic Hall, 7.30pm, 07870 698333, www.encounters-arts.org.uk. SATURDAY 15
QIGONG and Chinese Calligraphy Workshop at South Brent Village Hall, South Devon with Brad Richecoeur 10am-5pm. 0845 3305086 www. qigong-southwest.co.uk . SUNDAY 16
THE ART of Shared Parenting - a series of five monthly workshops for parents in Dartington. Following dates Nov 13, Dec 11, Jan 15, Feb 26. Whole series £225 per person. 07977 449901, www.encounters-arts.org.uk SATURDAY 22
COUPLES Massage Workshop on Saturday 22 October, 10am-4pm £40 per person. For more information or to book your place: call Ali at the Barbican Therapy Centre on 01752 266002. MONDAY - SUNDAY 24-30
FIVE animal Qigong retreat with Master Zhixing Wang at Seale Hayne, near Newton Abbot South Devon. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest. co.uk . NOVEMBER EVERY TUESDAY
QIGONG at The Exeter Mint Methodist Church with Brad Richecoeur, 5.30-7pm. Suitable for all levels. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest. co.uk . QIGONG - weekly classes in Totnes. Tuesdays 5.30 - 7pm with Daverick Leggett. 0845 4561852 Daverick@qigong-southwest.co.uk.
EVERY THURSDAY
MEDITATION & Buddhism with Vidyadasi, Exeter Natural Health Centre 7.30pm. 7-week course every Thursday covering 2 meditation practices and key Buddhist concepts. £70/£55/£35concs. Email: meditation. vidyadasi@gmail.com to book. EVERY FRIDAY
QIGONG at St Johns Church Hall, Totnes with Brad Richecoeur, 10-11.30am. Suitable for all levels. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest. co.uk WEDNESDAY 2
THE ENCOUNTERS Transition Youth Theatre for 13-18yr olds. Meeting every Wednesday evening in Dartington, building towards a public performance in March 2012. 07977 449901, www.encounters-arts.org.uk SATURDAY 19
QIGONG workshop at South Brent Village Hall, South Devon with Brad Richecoeur 10am-5pm. 0845 3305086 www.qigong-southwest.co.uk . DECEMBER SUNDAY 11
CHRISTMAS ANGEL DAY in Teignmouth. Come and connect to your angels on this special day. Ongoing development workshops plus accredited healing and development courses - 01626 774404 healers@lighthavencentre.com FESTIVE EVENTS
OUR next issue will include a calendar of festive events, from craft markets to carol concerts. To be included, email full details to editor@ reconnectonline.co.uk
Carpenter Oak produce hand crafted and uniquely designed timber frame buildings, including contemporary houses, barn-houses, extensions, conservatories, boathouses, a cabins, garden structures, public buildings and timber engineering. We can complete architectural service in partnership with Roderick James Architects LLP. For fur ther information, please contact Lee 01803 732900 │ lee@carpenteroak.com │ www.carpenteroak.com
Visit our ‘show barn’ in Devon - The Framing Yard, East Cornworthy, Totnes, TQ9 7HF Newbuild │ Extensions │ Garden Rooms │ Conservatories │ Commercial Buildings │ Garages and outdoor structures
Main image courtesy of Kim Sayer